Pokemon: A Journey's Beginning (RE)
by damus1cmahn
Summary: AU. (re-upload!) Trainers are not allowed to venture out until they finish their compulsory education and pass a licensing exam. How will this affect our heroes as they begin their journey as teenagers? A modern and realistic take on the story of Pokemon. Main pairing: AshxLeaf, RedxBlue/Green(F), Luckyshipping, Burningleafshipping
1. Prologue

**A/N: **

**Note: This has been a re-upload of the story due to multiple issues with the server. The original story will be taken down and replaced with this one.**

Before we get started, allow me give you an introduction to the entire project. This is a large scale project where I attempt to take elements and ideas from each of the universes and throw them all together to make an adventure of the lifetime set in its own universe. Ash will be merged with Red, Leaf with Green/Blue, and Gary with Blue/Green, and so on and so forth. You can pretty much tell which characters came from which universe. All main characters' personalities are going to be slightly altered to fit the scope and nature of the plot. There are also going to be new elements added to this work not seen previously in any of the universes. This is an attempt to make Pokémon more in tune with the real world. This work is the Kanto Arc of the project; there are five planned arcs (for each generation). Parings: Ash x Leaf; Red x Blue/Green (female); Luckyshipping/BurningLeafshipping

WARNING: Moments of **strong language**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the rights to Pokemon, Nintendo, or any party that falls in between. This is purely a fan-based work and no monetary gains are expected.

Also, please do not hesitate to PM me if you get confused along the way; I will try to make this experience as straight-forward as possible.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Prologue**

_June 1__st__, 1997 – 5:00pm_

Pallet Town: a small, quaint community nestled upon the western peninsula of Gulf of Kanto. Its warm, salty air gives way to the sweet smell of fresh fruits at the local vineyard. The seawater laps calmly upon the shore where many shelder have taken to basking in the afternoon sun. Small communities dot the rolling hills surrounding the town's humble center, with a windmill perched upon the tallest hill just outside of town. The main highway that connects Pallet Town with the neighboring Viridian City and Pewter City winds around the hills and cliffs. It is here we find two men driving down the Viridian Highway in a white BMW M5 back home to their families for the summer.

"Ahhh…it's going to be great to be back in town, Matt," the shorter of the two men started as he let go of the steering wheel, stretching his arms in the process, "can't wait to sit back and relax at this party!"

"Yeah, Will," Matt replied taking a nice whiff of the fresh Pallet air while the windows were rolled down and staring his brown, spiky hair in the side mirror's reflection, "I haven't seen them in a while; it just makes me miss them more. Just need to find a chair, grab me a beer, and just chill out on the beach."

"Amen to that, dude" Will nodded in agreement as they both saw the community nestled between the hills slowly come to view. They entered the town at the freeway's end to the northwest where it immediately gave way to modest storefronts and apartment housing along the main drag. They soon passed by Central Square where they see a statue of the Legendary Bird Trio surrounded by a platoon of dancing water fountains. They then turned onto the main southern road that led them to the beachfront area not too far from their neighborhood.

The car slowly crawled to a stop as they reached the beach front area. The sun was now lower in the sky and started to give off an orange hue. From the bluff facing the sea, picnic table can be found perched upon the white sand with piles and piles of food placed upon it. Directly next to it, man in glasses and a woman can be found grilling the food. Will and Matt took off their blazers and ties and made their way down towards the group of people they have come to know as their family and friends. "Hey guys!" they both yelled and wave their arms in the air, "we're home!"

Immediately, all of the heads of the group turned towards the direction of the seawall. There stood two men they all have been dying to see for 9 months out of the year. The three children dropped their things and rushed towards their fathers. One small brunette simply dropped her toys and pokemon and rushed towards the one who is her uncle. All four of their eyes beamed up as they drew in for a somewhat coordinated hug attack. "Daddy!" the three cried, "I missed you!"

"We missed you guys, too" Matt laughed returning the bear hug, "Hey there, little Leaf! How's my favorite niece doing?" 'Oh yeah, it's June 1st' "It's your birthday today, isn't it?"

Leaf looked up at him with sparking eyes. She cupped her hands and straightened them down to her front. "Yah! I'm turning 5!" she cooed, her eyes sparking.

"Oh really?" Matt began, an evil grin slowly forming on his face, "Can you count to 5?"

Leaf looked at him with a tilted head. She held out her hand and was trying her hardest to remember the numeric sequence. Her face turned a shade of purple as she struggled to remember anything from preschool. Of course that's when she came up with a brilliant idea. If she got her uncle to help, she wouldn't have to remember. "Hey Uncle Matt, can you help me count to 5?"

"Sure! Here, hold up your hands in a fist like me. Okay now stick each finger up like this whenever I say a number! Okay one…two…three…four…five!"

"Yea!" Leaf clapped excitedly. All four of them made their way back to the beach to play with each other's pokemon. The boy with jet black hair, or known as Ash Ketchum, owned a pikachu. A boy with brown hair, or Gary Oak, is around many pokemon belonging to his grandfather, but today he has a charmander out with him. An older, taller girl, presumably Gary's 12 year old sister Daisy, has her clefairy with her. And then there's Leaf, the third of the trio of youngsters who brought her jigglypuff out to play. Meanwhile, the two men made their way over to their wives, complete with a hug and kiss. They were reunited again for the next 3 months until they would have to return to their jobs. Delia started talking to her husband, "So Will, are things still quiet up there?"

"Eh, it wasn't that busy. Little start-ups here and there, but nothing we couldn't handle. But there's always a chance that Team Rocket may start trouble again…" Will recounted as he went on his usual talking self.

"Yeah, things were quiet in my office as well. There just aren't that many things going on nowadays," Matt added in.

"Well Matt," Nora began, "at least no one got hurt! Haha…"

"Yeah, but knock on wood. I might get a call tomorrow. Haha…"

A male voice behind the grill beside the picnic table called out to the group. "Burgers are ready!"

Will's mouth instantly began to water as he ran towards the grill. Ash heard the exact same call and reacted the exact same way. Delia could only muster a sigh and shake her head. 'Like father, like son'. Matt and Nora went to grab their children to go eat. Their grandfather lounged in his usual lawn chair with his cup of tea napping until he heard the call, awakening him from his blissful slumber. "Hmm? I suppose dinner's ready," he simply said as he made his way over. To the town and the world, he is known as the famous Dr. Samuel Oak, or Professor Oak for short. A former League champion, he dedicated his life for the better advancement of humans and pokemon alike so that they could co-exist peacefully. His job is to search and recognize new pokemon as well as study the feeding habits of them.

Now turning to the well-groomed man in glasses with a spatula, the line formed in front of him. A not as tall woman with a bob-style haircut assisted him with the serving of foods. "Ken…careful with patties! You'll drop 'em if you keep throwing them like that on to the plate!"

"Don't worry! I'll set 'em down right here on the table so everyone can get them and the buns as well as the condiments." Now, Kenneth was the only one of the group who stayed in Pallet Town for his career (although he technically works in Viridian City and makes the 17 mile commute every day). He is the "highest paid nerd" in the company. Today, though, he plays the cook for the barbecue alongside his wife, Miranda.

All 11 people sat down with their plates full of endless burgers, salads, mashed potatoes, and corn. They happily munched away. "Wow, Ken!" Delia exclaimed, "these are really good! You should cook more!"

"Nahhh! I'll leave that to you and my wife since you two run the Pallet House. I'm pretty sure this was a fluke of its own. Hahaaa…"

"I'm not gonna lie, though" Matt countered, "even though my sister runs the Pallet House, I do prefer the extra amount of grease and juices from this." This remark earned him a glare from both Delia and Miranda. Matt immediately recoiled and hid behind Will. Will, being the shorter and slightly bulkier of the two looked at him with unbelieving eyes.

"Really, dude. Trying to sacrifice your best friend to the beasts? How incredibly nice of you" Will sarcastically remarked as he stuck his tongue out.

"Hehe, that's what best friends are for, hehe. We always got each other's backs, right"

"Yes, but the difference here is that you are actually using my back…"

As dinner progressed, the sun began to creep nearer to the surface of the water giving off a deep orange glow to the skies above. The children kept playing in the sand without the slightest of care of their surroundings. The adults continued the adamant small talk on life with Matt ever so often ducking behind Will. But there was one figure that stood alone at the edge of the water, pondering life and its meaning.

'I wonder where I'm really going with this research. I can't keep searching for new pokemon forever and ever. There has to be a way for me to continue…' Professor Oak mused as he gazes towards the setting sun. Matt catches him over by the water's edge and slowly makes his way over. "Hey, Dad," Matt slowly began, "something on your mind?"

"Nothing much, my son, I'm just wondering what the future will be like and what it will bring. Will it be prosperous? Or will it descend into darkness? Only time will tell. Change is always around us and there is nothing we can do to stop it. I believe great change is on the horizon. Whether it will be good or bad is anyone's guess. I guess that's what is making me uneasy. "

"Don't worry, Dad. I'm sure everything will work itself out in the end, right?" They both look off into the horizon as the sun slips beneath the ocean to bring the Pokemon World into nightfall.

_-An Unknown Location-_

A lone figure sat in her leather chair behind a large wooden desk. There was a clean stack of files and papers to the right of her and a desk lamp to the left. Even though the lamp lit up the desktop, her face was still cast in shadow. Her left leg was draped over her right as she cupped her hands around her knees. The room was dead silent as her assistant stood beside her, ready for orders. She took her right hand and pushed it against her forehead and began to sigh. She was contemplating something. "Jasmine, please bring my brat of a son into my office."

"Yes, Madame." She quickly ran off into the darkness to fetch a man in a dark suit sitting in another office reviewing reports on a very rare pokemon that no one has ever seen. "Giovanni, sir," Jasmine called from the door, "your mother wants to see you in her office." He slowly let out a grunt and started off down the long, dark corridor. 'What does the woman want this time? It's bad enough she treats me like shit.'

He found himself in front of a set of large double doors with a dim light emitting through the center crack. 'Oh hell,' Giovanni thought as he made his way in. A firm, menacing posture gave away the malice he held for the woman behind the desk. The woman, whose lips where only shown from the silhouette, replied with the same menacing glare. "Sit down, boy," the woman began, "we have much to discuss about the future of this organization…starting with a proposition I am about to offer you." It was then Giovanni's ears perked up. "…I'm listening…"


	2. The Starting Line

**Chapter 2: The Starting Line**

_10 years later – September 29th, 2007 – 11:00pm _

_-The Ketchum Residence-_

Delia continued to clean the house when she still heard loud battle noises from Ash's room upstairs. 'I swear that's all he's been doing ever since he passed the exam and got his training license a week ago; it probably was a bad idea to let him go on a pokemon journey rather than attending high school. I need to get him to sleep so I can attempt to wake him up.' Slowly, she dropped her mop and made her way up the stairs. She quickly turned the corner where she opened the first door on the right. "Ashton Marshall Ketchum!" she screamed at a volume to where Will actually woke up 'What the…god damn it Ash…'

Ash had his left foot placed in front of his right with his back arched in a battle formation. He enjoyed watching pokemon battles as they were exciting and intense. He brought his right fist up to his face as he yelled at the TV. "C'mon Gengar! You can do it! Bruno's Nidorino is no match for you! HAHAHA!"

"Ashton Marshall Ketchum!"

He looked to his left to see his angry mom standing at the doorway with her arms crossed and a very stern look on her face. "Heeeey mom…" Ash began weakly, "ummmm…it's a bit loud isn't it."

"Not only is it loud and obnoxious, it's almost midnight and you have to wake up early tomorrow to see Professor Oak! Even Pikachu's tired! Look at him sleep in his basket." She pointed at the yellow mouse dozing happily away.

"Well sorry, mom. I guess I'm just really excited to go on my very own journey and I just wanted to see what battles are like since I'm going to be experiencing them. Haha."

"Well I know you're excited, son, but please go to bed. You have an early day tomorrow. If you can't sleep, turn to Professor Oak's channel and actually learn something useful."

"I think I'll go to bed now." 'Not that I'm not interested in Professor Oak's stuff, I just like battling better.'

"Good night, Ash!" Delia called out as she walked back downstairs. Her footsteps got slower and slower as she made her way into the kitchen. She picked up her cleaning supplies and just stared at them, losing herself in her own thoughts. She let out a sigh. 'Well, it's soon going to just be me and Miranda now. Will and Matt will leaving next week back to the Indigo Plateau and the kids are going out on their journeys. Nora and Ken have jobs in Viridian City. I just hope everyone remains together and safe…what the hell am I thinking, of course they will!' She then resumed her cleaning humming happily away as the mop slides aimlessly across the floor.

_-The Greenway Residence-_

The scene wasn't that much different from the Ketchum residence, except the amount of lights turned on. The only light emitted from the house could be found in a 2nd story window on the left side near the front. Inside, there was loud music blasting from the towering speakers that lined the wall; in fact, so loud that the residents downstairs finally had enough of it. A woman in her late 30's woke up begrudgingly from her non-existent slumber to put a stop to this cacophonous sound. Luckily, the man next to her is a very deep sleeper. It's much harder for to wake him up than anyone else in the neighborhood. One would almost have to hold tower speakers to his ears before he moves even a little. But his wife decided that she would silence the dreadful sound. She stomped her way up the stairs and opened the first room to the left to reveal a brunette girl packing her black dresses, socks, underwear, and pretty much anything else she _might_ need on her journey.

Leaf looked up from her stash of clothing to find her mother standing in the doorway, not at all pleased. Wondering what this is about, she followed her mother's eyes to her computer where the loud music was coming from. "Hehe. I guess it's too loud, isn't it, hehe," Leaf chuckled with hesitation. Whenever her mother has an unplanned wake up call, she can get very, very irate.

"Lily Johanna Greenway! It is 11:00 at night. I don't know what you are doing with the music this loud, but your father and I are trying to sleep. You have a big day tomorrow and you need some sleep. You are supposed to be waking up early to be at the lab by 8:00am."

"Sorry, mom, I'm just really excited that I get to start my journey tomorrow! I gotta make sure I have everything I need so I'm not stranded out there."

"I know, honey, but couldn't you finish packing when we get back from the lab? We aren't planning to send you off right away. Look at Jiggly…she's already getting her rest."

"I guess so. I guess I'm a little bit tired from all of the packing. Ok, I'll get some rest. What time are you waking me up?"

"Around 7:00. It should be just about day break. I'll see you in the morning, honey."

"Good night, mom!"

Leaf looked out her window to see her neighbor still had his lights on. Their windows are facing opposite of each other, so they can see each other all of the time. Ash looked out his window at the same time, just in time to see Leaf staring in his direction. Leaf took this as an opportunity to mess with him. What she didn't know was Ash holding some feelings for her, although both were quite oblivious and naïve to notice them. She had a stack of paper next to her desk near the window and proceeded to grab one. She took out a sharpie and starting to write something.

"_Hey there, cutie! _"

She held that up to the now open window in Ash's direction, giving him a cute wave in the process. Leaf knew Ash hated being called "cute" or something that would make him less masculine. Unfortunately, that didn't stop the blush rushing towards his face as he seethed in anger. Being the dense person he is, he decided to reply in kind, paper and sharpie hoping it would throw off her game.

"_Same to you, 'cutie' =]_"

Leaf tilted her head in confusion. 'What is he trying to do? I like being called cute. Hmmmmm…I did manage to get him mad. Maybe I shall continue'

"_What are you doing up this late? Spying on me? _"

Ash looked at her for a moment. 'What is she trying to do…'

"_AM NOT! I was getting ready for bed!_"

Leaf was thoroughly enjoying this. Messing with Ash was one of her favorite past times as they both verbally bickered and fought with each other during elementary and middle school. But, they still considered each other best friends. She would normally have to break up verbal and sometimes physical fights between him and Gary, always stepping in between the two and forcefully shoving both to each ends of the playground and hall. She then thought about how Gary and Ash would always try to out-do each other in everything. Gary was always the more intelligent and Ash, the more athletic. That never stopped them from attempting to best each other in anything they do. She, however, exceled at both athletics and intelligence and didn't see the reason of the two always fighting; she was better than them at both. But, it was time for a response.

"_Oh, really? You're staring at me right now~ _ " She even gave a wink as she held it up to her window.

Ash literally had steam puffing out from his ears at this point and his face more red than ripe tomatoes. 'OOOOH I'LL SHOW HER!' He grabbed his sharpie and began furiously writing

"_I don't have time for this! I'm going to bed! Good night 'cutie' =]_" And with that, he slammed his window shut, turned out the lights and passed out. Leaf did the same, but couldn't help but wonder 'Why do I enjoy messing with him? It's one of those things that can never be explained…'

_-7:00am-_

Miranda woke up just in time to see the sun break over the horizon. She slowly moved her feet off the bed and proceeded to make her morning coffee. The sweet aroma of Folgers coffee filled the kitchen as she looked out on to the balcony. The sound of the sea lapping up against the beach surrounded the morning sky. She poured herself a cup of coffee and stepped onto the balcony to see the sun rise. The cool morning sea breeze ran through her bed hair and around her bath robes. 'Ahhh such a beautiful morning. A good morning for a new adventure…OH CRAP! Gotta wake up Ken and Leaf!' Rushing back into the house, she put down her coffee and immediately ran up to Leaf's room. She then started to knock on the door.

"Leaf, dear. Time to get up. You gotta get ready and eat breakfast in an hour!" There was no response from inside the room. 'Great, just like her father…can't wake her up unless I get an air horn.'

"Leaaaaf…" She knocked a little louder; still no response from the dozing pre-teen. She finally had it with her. She opened the door to find her daughter's legs halfway off the bed and sprawled out amongst the countless pillows and blankets she had over her. 'Oh how cute…it so attractive' She then proceeded to rip all of the blankets off. An unsightly scene, Leaf had her mouth wide open, snoring happily away. Miranda then cupped her hands over her mouth and then screamed. "LEAF! GET UP NOOOOW!"

Leaf slowly opened her eyes and checked her surroundings. Her blankets have somehow moved onto the floor as well as her pillows. Her alarm clock read _7:15AM_ and in front of her, Miranda stared down at her with her arms crossed in her bathrobe. "Good morning, sweetie. You rest up okay?"

"Well, yeah. Why do you ask?"

"Oh because you're near impossible to wake up just like your father."

"…"

"Now go get ready. We have to be at Professor Oak's in 45 minutes."

"Okay, mom! C'mon Jiggly. Time to wake up" The jigglypuff opened its large eyes and rubbed it in an exasperated manner, much like her master. She quickly changed into her blue tank top, red skirt, blue socks, white shoes, and her beloved sun hat.

'Now to wake up the father…great…' Miranda thought as she went back towards her room downstairs. A familiar scream and yelp was heard moments later.

_-The Ketchum Residence-_

The sound of a raging alarm clock blasted throughout the room. Amidst his peaceful slumber, Ash was jolted by the sound of the annoying pidgey alarm clock he had set at 7:15. Destroying the clock, he realized what day it is. 'Sweet! Today, I start my journey! I'm so excited!'"Pikachu, wake up!" The yellow mouse sat up from its bed and looked around. He saw his master getting ready, so he walked out from his basket. Ash put on his black shirt, blue jeans, red vest, cap, and sneakers and ran down stairs. Delia and Will were waiting with breakfast downstairs and saw their son rushing down. Like a scripted prompt, Delia coolly asked "Before you sit down and fill that black hole of yours, did you brush your teeth and get ready?"

Ash laughed nervously and reversed his way back up the stairs slowly.

"That's what I thought, young man. Go back up and get ready. We will leave in 20 minutes, breakfast or not."

At that point, Ash bolted right back up the stairs to quickly brush his teeth, do his hair, and slap on some deodorant. AS quickly as he went upstairs, he quickly came back downstairs. "Okay mom, breakfast!"

"Here you go, dear. Four chocolate pancakes." And as fast as she set it down, it disappeared into the void that is Ash Ketchum's stomach…or if one can even call it that.

15 minutes later, they left the house and walked to the laboratory on the hill. Its tall tower is fit with a windmill that blows with the sea breeze. The clouds above puff along the surrounding sky giving this laboratory a picturesque view. Its white walls can be seen for miles and a garage at the bottom that held 3 cars: one for Matt (a Lexus LS460…sometimes Nora uses this while Professor Oak uses the RX350), one for Nora (a Lexus RX350), and one for Daisy (a Honda Accord Coupe…although this one seems to be missing at the moment). They then saw another family already waiting up on the hill. Delia was the first to shout. "Hey Miranda! Got everyone up there with yah?"

"Yeah. We're all waiting on you guys!"

"Well blame that to the eternal black holes standing next to me!" She pointed at the two standing next to her. They both had sweat running down their foreheads. They all made their way up the driveway and to the front door where the Greenways are waiting. Leaf, seeing Ash, gave him a cute, friendly wave. Ash, waved back, hoping to avoid another one of those "conversations" they had last night. But, he just had no such luck.

"So how my 'cutie' doing this morning? " Leaf began with a smirk. Ash tried his best not to blow up, but still had steam blowing out of his ears. His face flushed to absolute maximum by that point. Delia took notice of this and started to wonder, 'Is it me or do they like each other…I don't think they know it yet…' She continued to watch the scene unfold. Leaf kept on spewing out flirty remarks and Ash kept on taking the bait to counter with equally flirty remarks, although said out of anger and frustration. Both parents watched and tried to contain their laugher, but they all let it out at once. Just then, Professor Oak walked out of the double oak doors. "Oh good! You all are here. If we can get started now, follow me inside to the living room."

The living room inside the Oak's residence is rather large. The ceiling was a good twenty above and the large bay windows look out to the ranch behind the lab. This magnificent property ran all the way out to the eastern shore and covered over 45 acres of land. It is here Professor Oak does his continuous study of Pokemon in the wild. Inside the hill where the house is perched upon, there is a sprawling lab beneath the ground that opens to the ranch from an underground door at the base of the hill. The families gathered among the couches with Nora bringing out tea and sugar. "Anyone want a cup of tea?" They all grabbed a tea cup and the tea pot helping themselves to the freshly grown tea leaves from the ranch.

"Ahhh refreshing as always, Nora," Miranda stated as she sipped the warm tea, "what flavor is this today?"

"Just your normal jasmine tea, dear, but grown right here on the ranch!"

Professor Oak cleared his throat to gather their attention. ~AHEM~ "Okay, so I need to see the three teens. Where are they?" Leaf, Ash, and Gary rushed towards the professor. They all looked up at him, Ash and Leaf with excitement and Gary with annoyance. 'Great…the last things I need this morning are the two loud mouths, one of which I'm related to...'

"What do you want us to do?" began Ash.

"We need to get you all some starter pokemon, regulated by the Pokemon League of course. Please follow me down to the lab…oh and you adults can wait up here and chat amongst yourself."

_-Downstairs-_

The professor led them down the long flight of stairs into the lab. When they reached the large steel door, he punched in a string of numbers, put his right hand to the scanner, and then put an eyeball to another scanner. A lady over the intercom then stated _Access Granted_ and the large door slid open. He led the three children to a machine with a table top that held three pokeballs, each labeled squirtle, bulbasaur, and charmander.

"Okay. So you all get to each pick a pokemon for yourselves. Choose wisely because like the pokemon you already own, these guys will help you in any situation life throws at you…well mainly wild pokemon and other trainers. Think of them like your friends. Like how Pikachu and Jiggly are your friends, Ash and Leaf.

"Alright, may I say ladies first?" Leaf walked up to the table and started to think. 'hmmmm…well I don't really want a grass type and I'm afraid to catch my hair on fire…so I'll go with squirtle!' "Squirtle! I choose you!" Leaf yelled and pointed at the pokeball with the squirtle nameplate underneath it. That particular pokeball opened itself revealing a white, plasma-like fluid that manifested itself into a shape of a squirrel with a turtle shell on its back a couple feet away from the ball. The pokemon then spoke "Squirtle!"

"AWWWW IT'S SO CUTEEE!" Leaf beamed as she and Jiggly ran up and hugged the blue turtle.

"Finally something else she calls cute other than me," Ash mumbled under his breath, not going unnoticed by Gary.

'What the…Leaf calls Ash cute?! Since when?! Is she messing with him or something?'

"Alright who wants to go next?" Professor Oak said, recapturing both Ash's and Gary's attention. Ash stared at Gary for a moment "Paper, scissors, rock?"

"You're on!"

"Paper!"

"Scissors!"

"Rock!" Ash threw out paper and Gary threw out scissors.

"Heh, guess I win."

"ARRRRGH! I will beat you one day, Gary Oak!"

"Well Gary," Professor Oak began, "choose your pokemon."

'Hmmmmm…fire does do well against grass and bug types and almost every type except water and rock. I guess I'll go with charmander.' "Charmander! I Choose you!" Suddenly, the pokeball with its nameplate underneath opened and manifested itself into an orange, salamander-type pokemon, complete with a flaming tail. And it, too, spoke "Char. Char. Charmander!"

Ash saw only one pokeball left. Pikachu stood right beside him and reassured him that it'll be good friends with it. He nodded in silence as reassurance then called out to the third and final pokeball. "Bulbasaur! I choose you!" As those words left his mouth, the pokeball conjured up a peculiar pokemon with a bulb on its back. The bulb gave off a sweet scent. Pikachu ran up to it and greeted it. "_Hey! Welcome to the family, Bulbasaur! I assure you that you will be an integral part of this team and be the best friend ever!"_

Bulbasaur stared at the yellow mouse. He tilted his head towards one side and then slowly walked to him. Gradually, he formed a smile on his face and came to realize he was welcomed.

"Haha! Welcome to the team, Bulbasaur!"

"Okay! Let's go back upstairs so we can meet with your parents."

-_Back in the living room_-

The six adults sat anxiously as they waited for the children to arrive back into the room. Soon, a group of group figures turned the corner with their new pokeballs in their hands lead by the professor. They all gathered around the professor and took note of the three red devices he pulled out of his pocket.

"Before you all go on your journeys, I have a task I want you all to complete for me. As you see I am getting too old to be travelling and I need to continue my research," Professor Oak began as he holds three pocketbook-like devices in his hand, "This is the prototype Pokedex. It contains information about the known pokemon of this world and will record data on new ones that you will come across. The information will be sent back to me and will enable me to start research on the new pokemon and soon we will have a full database on all pokemon in the world." The rest of the room was silent.

"So why did you pick us to do this?" Gary inquired, "I'm sure there are other trainers who want to do this as well."

"Ah…see, I believe that you all will succeed in the pokemon world further than any other trainers, so that is why I have selected you three for this task."

'First, the two loud mouths are here, and now I have high expectations? Will the day get any worse?'

"Cool!" Ash beamed excitedly (with Gary covering his ears), "we won't let you down Professor Oak! Right, Gary?" Gary could only muster a grunt.

"Geez, Gary. Why so cold about this? You afraid you're gonna lose to me?"

'Oh hell no…' Leaf thought as she swore Gary's eyes flashed red. This was a common occurrence between the two, apparently.

"Ashy-boy, I bet I could beat you in a battle right now! I'll put your money where your mouth is!" Gary yelled sternly pointing his finger straight in Ash's face, losing all coolness in the process. Ash decided to return fire.

"You're on, Gary Oak! I'll show you who's on top around here!" Ash yelled at a louder volume, pointing his index finger at Gary. The adults looked on, sweat drops forming on all of them.

"Has it always been like this between Gary and Ash?" Nora whispered to Delia.

"I mean not that I know of. If anything, Ash has been really quiet about it."

"Don't you think we should do something?"

"I'd let them sort it out themselves; it's what teens do nowadays, right?"

Professor Oak decided it was time to step in to ease the tension. He placed firm grips on both of their shoulders. "Alright, you two, I know you're eager to test your pokemon but do take this outside to keep damages to the lab at a minimum." The three teens and Professor Oak went outside onto the ranch. The two mothers of the bickering teens looked over to their husbands expected to have the same reaction, only to find them having the complete opposite.

"Heh," Will smirked, "brings back good memories, doesn't it?"

"Oh come off it," Matt countered, "you know it could have been me up there instead of you."

"But look where we're at now. It's only a matter of time those two will learn to work with each other, right?"

"Yup! Just two best buds at the highest authority in the League…and for the record, I still think I'm better than you."

"And you can keep thinking that. Now quickly, I don't want to miss the inaugural battle."

Will and Matt made their way through the large glass doors and into the open area where Ash and Gary stood on each end. The scene was like a Mexican Standoff in those western movies, with each right hand on their pokeball waiting for the other person to draw first. Just like the dust blowing across the town, the grass waved in the wind where silence gave way to wind howls. Ash's eyes narrowed and pulled out his pokeball, no longer containing his excitement. "Bulbasaur! I Choose you!"

"Charmander! Go!" The seed and lizard pokemon stared each other down, waiting for orders. Ash decided to go first.

"Bulbasaur! Tackle!" and the seed pokemon leaped forward towards the lizard. Bulbasaur thought he could take down the charmander in one blow, but was sadly mistaken when Gary issued this command, "Charmander, dodge it and counter with scratch." The lizard side-stepped the seed and scratched the side of its body. Charmander cheered for itself until it heard Ash's voice, "Bulbasaur, tackle at close range!"

Charmander did not have time to dodge the point blank tackle issued by Bulbasaur, even rendering it down and unable to continue. It gave a weak cry and then lowered its head, signaling it was done. Gary was floored on how powerful Ash's bulbasaur was. He conceded the battle and returned Charmander to its pokeball. "Good job, Charmander. You deserve a rest."

At the same time, Ash and Pikachu (who was perched on his shoulders the entire time) went up and celebrated Bulbasaur's victory. "YAY! Bulbasaur is the best! We will be unstoppable!" Ash beamed as he returned Bulbasaur into its pokeball. Leaf, Jigglypuff, and Squirtle all had sweat drops formed. 'Here we go…'

"Don't get too cocky, Ashy-boy," Gary yelled from across the field, "I'll be the top trainer in Kanto! Just you watch me!"

"Not if I get there first! You'll see who's the best trainer around here!" Ash yelled back.

"BOYS!" Leaf screamed at the top of her lungs, Squirtle and Jigglypuff covering their ears, "I have a proposition. Whoever becomes the Champion of Kanto gets ¥10,000 from the other two, including me." Everyone on the field, including the adults, was silenced. Gary and Ash looked at each other, then at Leaf, then back at each other, then back at Leaf, then at the adults (who also stared back), then back at Leaf.

"Leaf. You are one money-crazy chick, you know that?" Ash began as he looked at Pikachu.

"I know. I love anything when it comes to money, hehehe," Leaf said mysteriously, as if she was the one who will be taking the title of Champion and gaining ¥20,000 in the process. She held out her hand as to signal the contract. Ash and Gary looked at each other one more time and extended their hands as well.

"To becoming the Champion of Kanto," all three of them said as they shook each other's hands. Leaf then walked back into the building and the others followed. Miranda had to be the first one to ask.

"Leaf, dear, who won the battle?"

"Oh Ash won, and I also made a ¥10,000 bet for Champion of Kanto. If one of us wins, the other two has to give him/her ¥10,000 each. If nobody wins, no one gets money. Simple as that"

Miranda looked at her daughter, and let out a sigh while she shook her head in exasperation. "How did I know you'd pull a fast one on them…"

"Because you know me so well, Mommy," Leaf smiled and winked as she walked out the front door, "C'mon Mommy and Daddy. I've gotta finish packing for my journey!" Ken and Miranda followed their daughter back to their house.

The rest of the group followed suit as they separated and went back to their own houses (well Gary's family just stayed where they are). The sun was at high noon and they would need to start out in the afternoon if they wanted to make any progress.

_-The Greenway Residence-_

Leaf bounded past the kitchen, up the stairs, and into her room where she quickly attempted to stuff nearly all of her belongings into the small yellow shoulder bag she planned on carrying. Soon, her bag looked more bloated than a wailord after finding a school of krill the size of Hoenn. She quickly hurried down the stairs and into the kitchen where she found her mother and father at the dinner table. It would so seem that she had packed incorrectly based on the looks her mother was giving her.

"Leaf, honey," Miranda began as she eyed her overflowing bag, "are you sure you packed everything?" Leaf looked at her mother incredulously.

"Why yes, mommy. I believe I packed everything I need." Miranda gave her a hard stare.

"That's the point, Leaf. You packed your entire room in that bag of yours. Do you think you will be able to carry all of that on your journey?" Leaf did feel it was a bit heavy and weighing her down quite a bit. But, she was not about to lose this argument.

"Mom, I need at least 5 days' worth of clothes if I want to survive out there! It would be impossible for me to wear the same thing more than twice in a week without washing it! I also need to look pretty!" Again, Miranda gave her a hard stare.

"Leaf, the whole point of a journey is to survive on the basic necessities. If you want to survive in the wild and live with the pokemon, you must be able to live like one. Now go upstairs and repack your bag so it won't weigh you down like it is now." Leaf conceded the battle and ran back upstairs to dump the contents of her bag. In this bag were about 5 sets of clothing (not including the one she was wearing), 2 dresses (one being her favorite little black dress), 2 sets of white gloves, a massive amount of assorted hygiene products, several shoes, her iPhone and all of its accessories, and several pokeballs she had purchased earlier (not to mention her pokedex).

'…Okay so I over packed a bit,' Leaf thought, 'which of these will I really need to survive?' She looked down at the pile and started to separate the contents. She figured she didn't need the extra sets of clothing, so she only took the black dress, the pokeballs, some makeup, the necessary hygiene, couple pairs of underwear, her PokeGear 5S (and charger), socks, another pair of black shoes, and water bottle. Surprisingly, the bag didn't look bloated this time and only looked half-filled. She made her way back downstairs to her mom, who then gave her the look of approval.

"See, Leaf," Miranda started, "Doesn't that feel lighter to carry instead of that mass of stuff you had in there earlier."

"Mooooom! Yes it feels lighter! Can you stop patronizing me? It's really making me feel dumber and dumber by the minute."

"Fine, dear, but know that your father and I are always looking out for you, okay?"

Ken, being the reserved individual he is, gave a silent nod of approval with a soft smile while gripping his wife's hand for assurance. "Be safe, Leaf. Don't forget to call us every now and then. We didn't get that PokeGear for you for nothing, did we?"

"Oh Daddy, you worry too much. Don't worry; I'm planning on asking Ash to join me on my journey." Ken went bug-eyed to that idea. Thoughts were going through his head as to how this might turn out.

"Leaf. I'm not saying it's going to happen or what not, but your mother and I don't want to become grandparents before we're 50." Leaf did not take kindly to that, amidst a growing blush.

"What are you talking about?! Ash is my best friend! No way he would do something like that!" Ken let out a small chuckle before adjusting his glasses.

"Hey! I'm just making sure, okay! Now go on and get started with your journey."

"Be safe, dear!" Miranda quietly said as tears started to form in her eyes.

"Oh, c'mon! It's not like its goodbye forever!"

Leaf gave her parents a long, goodbye hug before bursting out the front door and over to her neighbor's house.

_-The Ketchum Residence-_

Ash placed the things he needed on his bed with Bulbasaur and Pikachu curiously looking on. He figured he didn't need much, so all he took with him were an extra set of clothes (unsurprisingly the same outfit), some sock, some boxers, several pokeballs, his PokeGear 4S, his pokedex, and some hygiene stuff. He then thought of something, 'wait…I'll need to carry food, too. Can't go on a journey without food.'

"Pika?" Pikachu inquired, confused what was going on. Bulbasaur gave the exact same stare he was giving earlier, confusion.

"What do you mean you don't get it, Pikachu? You need food to survive while out there!"

Just then there was the ring of the doorbell. Shuffling was heard downstairs immediately afterwards. "Coming!" the voice of Delia echoed through the house. Ash suddenly let out a soft yawn. He figured he could use a short nap before heading out on the most important journey of his life.

Leaf waited patiently on the porch. She was tapping her right foot out of nervousness and she began to produce sweat, not sure whether from nervousness or the Kanto early fall heat. 'Okay, I'm just asking Ash to join him on his journey as best friends. Right, just best friends.' She frowned a bit at the thought. A second later, the front door opened to reveal Delia in her apron armed with a broom and dust pan.

"Oh hello, Leaf," Delia greeted in her usual cheery greeting voice, "what brings you over to my lovely home before your adventure?" Leaf hesitated a bit before she gave her response.

'Gosh, I don't know if it's improper for a girl to ask a guy on a journey like this…but…argh it doesn't matter.' "Umm…Mrs. Ketchum. Can I speak to Ash for a bit?"

"Go ahead, dear; he's up in his room packing god knows what in that yellow backpack of his." It was then she noticed that Leaf had on a yellow shoulder bag. Delia gave it further thought. 'It's like they coordinated this. They're even dressed in the same color scheme.' Delia resumed her sweeping while her husband sat at the dinner table looking over several files.

"Hi, Mr. Ketchum!" Leaf yelled as she ran upstairs toward Ash's room.

"Hello to you, too Leaf!" Will waved as he went back to his files. He stopped for a second as his observatory senses start to engage. '…are they wearing the same colors?' Will took a glance at his wife, who stared back at him giving an 'I don't know what's up but as strange as it is, it happened' shrug. Taking another sip of his tea, he buried himself with work.

Leaf finally made it up the stairs to turn the corner and burst open the door of the first room on the right. "HEY ASH!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. The poor boy woke up startled from the short nap he was taking.

"AHHH! Leaf! What the hell are you doing in my room?!"

"Oh…sorry. Didn't know you were sleeping." Leaf sheepishly replied with her hands now behind her back in embarrassment.

"It wouldn't have killed you to knock?"

"But I wanted to surprise you. You were so cute napping like that, though ~wink~" Ash did a double take on that remark.

"What the hell, you saw me sleeping?! And I'm not cute!...I'm manly," he added quietly at the end.

"Whatever you say, Ash," Leaf waved.

"So what brings you to the castle of Ketchum?"

"Well, I was wondering if…uh…" Ash became a bit curious to where this was going. 'Okay, this is going in one of two directions. Knowing Leaf, she's a girly-girl. When they trail off like that, it could mean that she's confessing something, or she wants something. Wait, she's blushing; I'm going to put bets on the confessions. Well either way, I'm going to get strong-armed into doing something I don't want to do, although if it was the former, with the option being 'I came to confess my feelings for you', I wouldn't mind.'

"…go on…" Ash slowly said, wanting to hear this next part.

"..well, ummm…" Leaf's blush began to grow a darker shade of red

"…"

"…ummmmm…"

"…okay, just ask me what you want to ask; I won't judge." This boosted Leaf's confidence a bit.

"Well since you put it that way. I was wondering if we could go on this journey…together…" Ash was bug-eyed and speechless. 'Wait, she wants us to journey together. Like 'together' or together as friends?'

"…as best friends…"

'Aaaaaand there goes that thought. Well I guess it would be better friendzoned than travelling alone.' "Of course, Leaf, I would be very happy to go on this journey with my best friend."

'…yeah, best friend…' Leaf thought with a sigh.

"Well, I'm all packed up and ready to go! Let's go downstairs. Return, Bulbasaur!" Ash said as the seed pokemon went back into its home. Leaf followed Ash and Pikachu downstairs where Delia and Will were waiting. They all stood in the living room and prepared to say their goodbyes when Delia remembered something.

"Ash, dear, what will you do for food?" Ash already thought of this, but could not think of anything.

"Well,"Ash began, "there's always Pokemon Centers that have hotels, right?" Delia facepalmed herself. She gave him a sack full of food, filled with everything from assorted nuts, to chips, and water bottles.

"These are for the road. Don't eat all of them within the first hour you walk out of town. I know you'll do it."

"Moooom…my stomach isn't that big, sheesh." Leaf let out a slight chuckle at the thought.

"And by the way, did you pack a lot of underwear, because I will be expecting you to change it every day." Ash looked at his mom in alarm, remembering Leaf was right next to him. He took a look at her and noticed she was not freaking out or dying of laughter, but just letting out a small chuckle. 'Well I suppose she's going to give me shit for this later on…' He looked at his father, who was about to keel over any moment from attempting to hold the laughter in.

"…snrk…snrk snrk…AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Will collapsed to the floor and started to roll around, all while letting loose a barrage of laughter. This continued on for a good five minutes before he regained composure. The three waited patiently as he picked himself off the floor. He then noticed the two were not carrying any sleeping bags.

"So…you two are going to sleep on the grass at night?" Ash and Leaf looked at each other for a moment before realizing they indeed do not have sleeping bags…or even thought about sleeping arrangements. Sheepishly, Leaf glanced back at Will who was waiting for an answer.

"Ummmmm…" Leaf started shakily, "yeah I didn't give much thought into it, hehe…"

"Neither did I," Ash added in, "I guess we were so excited for our journey that it slipped our minds…"

"Well you two, I seems I have a couple of spare sleeping bags I can lend you . Just make sure not to get them too dirty (if you know what I mean)" Will said, adding a wink for effect. Delia caught on to the innuendo and slapped him on the back of the head.

"And I will NOT become a grandmother before I'm 50!" Delia raised her voice, "You two better not try anything funny, understand?" Ash looked at his mother like a confused Growlithe while Leaf facepalmed herself. Awkward silence followed this outburst. Leaf just could not believe her ears.

"Why does everyone think that the two of us are going to be engaged?! We're just best friends who want to travel together!" Leaf exclaimed while frantically waving her hands in the air. Ash kept silent the whole time and when Leaf said that, his heart randomly dropped, like he had just been rejected but did not know why or from what. Will went to the garage to grab a couple of red and green sleeping bags for the two teens and came back with them in hand. Unsurprisingly, Ash grabbed the red sleeping bag while Leaf grabbed the green sleeping bag. The looked at their backpacks (well in Leaf's case, a shoulder bag), back at the sleeping bags, then at Will, then back at their backpacks, then back at Will, then at the sleeping bags. Will noticed the confusion and spoke up.

"Don't worry," Will suddenly starts, startling the two teens, "these sleeping bags are special. They were given to me as a present from the League. If you look on the bag, there is a button. Push it." They both pushed the button and it miraculously shrank to a quarter of its original size. Needless to say, they were easily able to stuff the bags into their backpack without any trouble.

"I also have tents you both can use. Do you need two, or just one to share? ~wink~" Delia, again, was not pleased.

"WILL YOU QUIT THAT?!" Delia yelled while again giving Will a hard slap to the head. Leaf thought for a moment.

"Well, I guess I'm fine with sharing a tent if that means not having to carry even more things," Leaf said, to the surprise of Delia. She thought a minute about the previous interactions of the two and decided it was okay, although the perversion in her husband's mind did not sit well.

"Fine, you two can share a tent. Just as long we know you two are safe. I trust you two will look out for each other?"

"Yes, Mom," Ash replied, now more exasperated and itching to hit the road. Leaf just silently nodded with a smile. Will's PokeGear suddenly rang and the caller revealed itself to be Matt.

"Oh you want us to meet you guys at the center of town? Okay then! We're on our way!" Will excitedly said as he hung up the phone, "well we're taking you both to downtown to meet up with Matt since he is insisting on having Gary join you guys."

"Cool," Ash responded, with no emotion whatsoever.

"Awesome!" Leaf exclaimed, "it'll be the best adventure yet! Not only my best friend gets to go, but my cousin, too!"

-_Central Square, Downtown Pallet Town (around 2:00 pm)_-

Soon, the two teens were carrying their bags and piled in the car to head to the town center. They drove past the small shops and restaurants to Central Square where a bronze statue of the legendary bird trio rose out of the dancing fountain that surrounds it. The traffic circle that encompasses the square had virtually no traffic today, which was odd considering the main road out of town, Main Street, was usually the busiest this time of week. The seven adults (along with pretty much half the town) gathered with their teenage children to wish them farewell and good luck on their journeys as Pokemon Trainers. It was this very moment that Ash, Leaf, and Gary had been waiting for. They had chosen to forgo high school in order to take the Trainer's exam to obtain their license. It all boiled down to this very moment where they stood face to face with their parents, about to give their final goodbyes for a while.

Will and Delia looked at their son straight in the eye with a soft, reassuring smile. Will took his right hand and placed a firm grip on Ash's shoulders. "You know, son, I remember when I was 15 and ready for my journey. I'd never thought I'd be looking through my father's eyes in this moment. It's truly a sight to behold. I made a promise to him to be the best trainer I could be, and I never let him down, even Charizard agrees with me that I still have a lot to learn about the world of Pokemon (one could hear a faint grunt of approval coming from Will's belt). Just promise me that you will do your best not only as a trainer, but as a person." Ash nodded with a confident smile.

"I won't let you down, Dad." As Will released his grip, Delia went up to hug her son with tears in her eyes. "Oh, Ash, I wish you wouldn't leave home, but I understand that you've grown up and want to leave the nest. I don't think I could've asked for a better son and now he's going to leave. Please don't forget your mother and father."

"Don't worry, Mom, I won't forget you or Dad on my journey. I'll come home to visit every once in a while," Ash said as he returned the hug.

Matt, Nora, and Professor Oak casually looked at Gary in the eye and he responded with a curt nod (which still lacked emotion). Matt went up to his son and gave him a soft, reassuring smile. "My boy, there are a lot of challenges out there waiting to be answered. Use them to your advantage. I remember my days as a trainer. Even now, there's still a lot for me to learn. If there is one true advice I could give you, it's to think with a clear head and never give up." Gary replied with a nod. Nora also walked up and grabbed her husband's hand.

"Oh Gary," Nora began, "my baby's all grown up and heading out. It just wasn't long ago he was a toddler running around with that Charmander on the beach with everyone and now he's as tall as you, Matt." Matt let out a small chuckle. "Just make sure to be safe, okay? Oh and don't forget to call us every now and then!" Gary, again, responded with a nod.

Ken and Miranda were already hugging Leaf way past death choke level with Miranda in tears. "Oh Lily!" Miranda cried, "My Lily is leaving us. She won't leave us forever, right?" Leaf made a face signaling she was having trouble breathing.

"Mom, Dad, little trouble breathing here!" Leaf choked out. The parents released their death grip on their daughter with her mother still in tears. "It's okay, Mom, I won't ever leave you guys forever. I'll visit some times." Leaf reassured her mother. Her father, while normally reserved, just couldn't contain his happiness for his daughter.

"Lily, I wish you well on your journey. You'll do a lot of growing up, so use every opportunity you have to your advantage. You'll always be evolving as a person, so make it the best adventure you have," Ken said softy to Leaf as he brought her in for a final hug.

With all of the farewells said and the teens on Main Street, everyone (including the crowd) slammed each other with goodbyes and farewells and good lucks, with Delia dropping this bomb, "DON'T FORGET TO CHANGE YOUR UNDERWEAR, ASH!" Ash could only stare away in embarrassment with flushed cheeks and Leaf cowering with laughter. The teens continued their way down Main Street until they got to the end of the road where they found a sign that said "Route 1 – Viridian City". Ash took a minute to stare at the sign.

"Well guys," Ash started, "looks like our journey starts here. Ready?"

"HELLS YEAH!" Leaf shouted excitedly.

"Just as long as you two don't annoy me like you always do, we'll be fine," Gary added in. The three headed due north on the dirt path that headed to Viridian City, their pokemon in tow (Ash with his Pikachu, Leaf and her Jigglypuff, and Gary with…nothing). What adventures that await them remain a mystery and waits to be discovered. Their lives will never be the same…ever…


	3. Angry Birds

**A/N: **It seems I had neglected to inform you guys that this is my inaugural story on this site (and ever). Reviews would be greatly appreciated! I had to post this chapter today since this weekend in con weekend (and other events). This story generally updates once a week to every other week, typically on Fridays (but that may be delayed depending what I have going on event and school-wise). Also, I am in the process of setting up a blog to post any visual articles I create to help me write this fic (or any fic for that matter). These would range from maps, to documents, to building designs, to character information. Stay posted!

* * *

**Chapter 3: Angry Birds**

_September 30__th__, 2007 – 5:00pm _

It would have been easier to take the highway, known as the Viridian Highway, to Viridian City, but two things prevented them from doing so: it was illegal to walk along the highway, and wild pokemon tend to stay away from the highway unless they were unfortunate enough to be unable to figure out the crossovers (plus, how were they going to catch pokemon with cars anyway). Instead, the group hiked the old dirt pathway designated as Route 1. This route and other numbered dirt paths have served the nation for hundreds of years and generations of trainers and was the main infrastructure until the advent of the highway. Pokemon are generally shy of humans and tend to scurry away at their sight away from these routes. Occasionally, there would be one valiant (or stubborn) enough to go against the opposing trainer. For the pokemon, this usually ends badly for it with its capture and a very happy trainer. However, there are cases where the inexperienced experience the exact opposite; it is here somewhere along this route in the late afternoon where we find three young trainers walking in a group nearing a lone pidgey.

Ash, Leaf, and Gary continuously searched around for wild pokemon, with Ash singing some song about catching all of the pokemon and Leaf joining in at some points, and much to Gary's annoyance. They had seen a couple along the road, but they scurried away out of fear, shyness, or some combination of the two. Miles of routes passed and still no sight of a pokemon that would battle them; Ash was getting very impatient (and getting tired of singing the same song over and over again).

"Man, it's been 3 hours since we left town and we haven't seen anything! That's a 6 mile stretch of nothing!" Ash complained. Gary was starting to get irritated as well…very irritated.

"You know, you might be the reason why every friggin pokemon we see runs away. You cannot keep your loud mouth shut for 5 seconds. AND SING A DIFFERENT SONG, WILL YOU?!" Gary countered with a bitter tone. He was clearly not happy joining these two. Leaf, on the other hand, remained as optimistic as ever.

"Oh don't worry, Ash," Leaf said patting Ash's shoulder, "we'll run into something eventually. And it's a fun song, Gary! You should join in!" The minute she said that, Gary threw out his hand to stop the two.

"What's up," Ash inquired, his mouth in Gary's hand.

"Shhhh!" Gary hissed, "Get down behind the rock. I spot a pidgey about 75 feet in front of us." The three hid down behind a rock. Ash pulled out his pokedex, deciding it was a perfect time to use it, and it introduced itself.

"Hi! I'm Dexter, the pokedex of the Kanto Region. I contain information about known pokemon and can make information for new pokemon. I am registered to Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town. Trainer ID: 13429. Commencing scan of target pokemon. Pidgey is a Flying Pokémon. Among all the Flying Pokémon, it is the gentlest and easiest to capture. A perfect target for the beginning Pokémon Trainer to test his Pokémon's skills. Pidgey's Gust power creates tornadoes. It also has a Sand-Attack." It was a very still, very quiet 2 minutes before Ash decided to take action. No longer containing himself, he grabbed a pebble. Gary noticed this and was not pleased.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Gary hissed.

"I'm gonna show you how to catch a pokemon. Just watch and learn, Gary," Ash cockily said. Gary could only be amused…and worried.

"Okay, Ashy-boy; let's see what you got." Ash then stood up, the pidgey still unaware of their presence. He cocked his arm back to prepare for the pitch and let loose with all of the power he had. It made contact with the unsuspecting pidgey at the back of the head, but not powerful enough to bring it down as he planned. In fact, all it did was turn around and tried to look for its attacker. Ash, thinking it's distracted, threw a pokeball at the pidgeon only to hit it in the exact same spot and fall to the ground. He stood there dumbfounded while the pidgey started to walk the other way, uninterested in the pokeball that hit it.

"Charmander," Gary suddenly commanded from behind, "scratch that pidgey."

"Huh," Ash questioned as he looked back, only to find Gary's Charmander bolting past his left side and aiming for the flying pokemon. Its claws raised and cocked back for the strike, the pidgey is now in wide-eyed alarm when it decides to kick up sand in order to protect itself. Unfortunately for the pidgey, Charmander was quick enough to know where the pidgey is and land a direct attack on it…to the back of the head. Clutching its head in pain, it kicked up more sand and was about to unleash its most powerful move: gust. Charmander, now blind in the sand, crawled around and swung its claws everywhere to find the offending pokemon. Pidgey flew up, moved its wings back, and began flapping violently as the air in front of it began to twist and pick up dust and debris. The mini tornado, also known as gust, barreled towards the cloud of sand.

"Charmander, get out of the way and jump to use scratch!"

Charmander heard the command just in time to jump to the right and launch itself in the air at the pidgey. Cocking back its arm again, it lunged in for the attack to have it scrape the underside of the pidgey's abdomen. Now critically injured, the pidgey fell to the ground below and lay there limp. Gary readied his pokeball and threw it directly at the pidgey, its casing opening it up and absorbng the flying pokemon. It wiggled around a little bit and then locked in place, noted by the distinct ping that the catch had been successful.

"And that, Ashy-boy, is how you catch a pokemon. You have to battle it to weaken it in order to capture it. Got it? It's basic pokemon catching 101," Gary lectured Ash, who looked just about ready to die inside. Leaf was floored on how quickly Gary had been able to catch the pokemon.

"Good job, Gary!" Leaf exclaimed proudly.

"Heh," was all Gary muttered as he pressed forward. They walked for another 200 yards until Gary threw out his arms again.

"What now? See another pokemon?" Ash asked again.

"Shhhh!" Gary hissed again, "yes it's another pokemon. Now be quiet so I can figure out how to capture it."

"Hey! I want a turn!" Leaf quietly cried.

"Fine, pesky girl; you can get the next one we run into." Leaf raised an eyebrow to that.

"…did you just call me a pesky girl?"

"What of it? You are one; I call it like I see it."

"Ughh! You are an asshole, you know that?"

"Heh, call me whatever you want; I'm still your cousin." While this exchange was going on, no one noticed Ash slip away and stared down the pokemon in front of him.

"Oooo, I think it's another pidgey; time for me to capture it for real." Ash said quietly as he readied his pokeball containing Bulbasaur. "Bulbasaur! I choose you!" He shouted as he threw his pokeball out. And when the white plasma subsided, Bulbasaur stood in attention, waiting for orders. Then Ash noticed something, it looked quite different from the pidgey they encountered earlier. Instead of a docile tiny bird with short, brown feathers and a short beak, this pokemon had longer feathers that stood up, red wings, and a seemingly aggressive disposition. Ash quickly pulled out Dexter for analysis.

"Spearow, the tiny bird pokemon. Unlike Pidgey, Spearow has a terrible attitude. It is very wild and will sometimes attack other Pokémon and humans. It-" Ash snapped Dexter shut, deciding that was all he needed to hear.

"Tackle attack!" Bulbasaur readied itself and lunged forward at the bird pokemon, which noticed its presence. Being the stubborn pokemon it was known for, it directly went on the offensive to counter the tackle with a peck. This attack, however, never made contact as Bulbasaur's tackle made direct contact with the spearow and it rolled out on the ground. Dust from the battle scene was thrown in all directions, clouding the entire scene.

"Yes!" Ash exclaimed, claiming an early victory for the success of the attack (although he could not see past the dust). Gary and Leaf looked on to see what he would do next wondering if he indeed won. What happened next was totally unexpected.

The spearow that was now sprawled out on the ground and in pain suddenly gave a shrill cry towards a large oak tree to the left of Ash. Suddenly, the leaves of the large oak tree began to rustle violently. Gary, now wide-eyed in alarm, pulled out his pokedex and it read the same lines as Ash's did, only to note that "It often likes to attack in flocks and will call upon its wingmen for aid upon injury." Now looking at the incoming air raid, the three trainers stared at each other and said the same thing…

"…oh…shit…"

Ash looked to the left and saw a mass flock of Spearow flying right towards them. Gary was the first one to snap out of the trance and yelled, "EVERYBODY FUCKING RUN FOR IT!" while Ash and Leaf also snapped out of it and bolted, Pikachu, Bulbasaur, and Jigglypuff desperately trying to keep up.

They ran for a good mile or so before Ash decided they could not outrun the air raid forever.

"Hey guys! You think it would be a good idea to split up the flock in order to attempt to fight 'em off separately?" Ash yelled.

"I don't know," Leaf yelled back, "but it's the only chance we have."

"Alright," Gary yelled, "I'll go left! Ash, you go straight ahead and Leaf, you go to the right."

"Right! I'll meet you guys in a bit!" Ash yelled as he continued running forward. Leaf veered to the right and ran through the grass and Gary veered left. No one noticed dark clouds forming above them; that's when all hell broke loose.

-_With Ash_-

They ran for another half of a mile before stopping to catch their breath. The spearow, however, were right on their tail as they began their downward decent. The cries were ear-piercing as Ash looked up. 'Shit,' he thought, 'there are so many of them! How will I be able to take 'em all on?'

"Bulbasaur! Give 'em a growl!" He mustered the best growl that he could, only to have it drowned out by the cries of the spearow and the now booming thunder. Drizzles start to drop, which then gave way to a torrential downpour.

"Damn it! Guys, keep running!" Ash yelled as the three ran, the spearow now at pecking level where it started viciously pecking them. One spearow's peck would not be so bad, but 20 of them pecking would be very uncomfortable, unmanageable, and downright crazy to fend off. "Argh! GODDAMMIT!" Ash yelled as he tried to fight them off himself, his pokemon attempting to do the same. To his misfortune, he tripped on an unseen rock, face-planting in the now muddied path. He twisted his head towards the spearow and then looked towards Pikachu.

"Pikachu, I know this is insane, but you have to release a massive thundershock. Can you do that for me, buddy?" Pikachu nodded, knowing full well that electricity and water generally do not make for a very good combination. Ash then stood up, with Pikachu on his shoulder and Bulbasaur ready to assist on the ground.

"Come at me, spearow!" Ash yelled at the top of his lungs while he threw Pikachu towards the flock, all charged up. Pikachu then released a massive amount of electricity as the lightning from the thunderstorm gave it even more power. The entire area was lit up in yellow as the screams of Ash, Bulbasaur, Pikachu, and the spearows were all heard at the same time. The last words Ash Ketchum uttered was "Damn you…spearows…" as his world went black.

-_With Gary_-

As one might expect, Gary was faring a little bit better than Ash…up until the rain started. He was able to outrun the spearows for a good three-quarter mile before noticing the sky growing ominously dark. As if on cue, the sky lit up with a festival of lightning as Gary stopped to catch his breath. The flock of spearow were now gaining on him when he glanced back to do a head check. He was about to continue running when a large shadow loomed over. A fearow, who was the leader of the flock, stared down at Gary in contempt with lightning and thunder not helping defuse the situation, and now the pouring rain. 'Well this is just great…wait, why didn't it go for Ash?'

The fearow began to fly up to prepare its most powerful attack. Gary recognizes this move based on the pokemon shows he watched. 'Shit, it's doing the Aerial Ace. I need to run fast.' He frantically looked around the cliff side and found a small opening. 'Yes…a cave!' He sprinted as fast as he could to dodge the onslaught of the fearow, with the spearows behind it. With the flock now beginning their attack angle decent, Gary stopped outside the small opening and waited for their arrival. The group of beaks were approaching quickly, keen on revenge. He had to wait for the right moment to dive into the opening.

For a moment, time stood still. All he could hear was his heart pounding against his chest, his lungs heaving for oxygen, the rain splattering across his face, the booming thunder around, and the screeches of the flock closing in. He could feel the water pouring down his face, the mud caked to his hands, the quake of the storm around him. He had one chance to do this right. He was not going to die today. Right when the flock was about 10 feet from him, he used all his strength and dove into the cave, rolling out has he hit the back wall, hard. All he heard were cries of spearows and the fearow followed by multiple thuds. He took a look around and decided that he was safe in there.

The scene outside the cave was a peculiar one. There were spearows with their beaks stuck to the ground, some had their beaks stuck to the cliff's wall, then there were some where the just flat out hit the wall and collapsed to the ground. The fearow happened to be one of the ones knocked out on the ground. Gary figured that he would wait the rain out in the cave and for the spearow to retreat before heading out towards Viridian City.

-_With Leaf_-

Leaf did not know how long she ran, but she kept running. Jigglypuff was now in her ball as she would not be able to keep up. The cries of the flock were nearing as the rain started to drop and the thunder was heard overhead. Leaf was never the one to enjoy thunder storms; she always had her headphones on during the event of one and shut her curtains. Now she had nowhere to hide as lightning flashed around her. She was already panicking about the spearows when out of nowhere, a large shadow behind the flock materialized. Noticing the change in shadows, she turned back to find a larger-than-normal fearow flying quickly towards her. She readied her squirtle and sent it out.

"Squirtle! Tackle the fearow!" Leaf screamed as she braced herself for impact. Squirtle launched itself towards the large beak pokemon, but completely missed. He was sent skyward towards the rest of the flock. Thinking he could fly, Squirtle failed his arms to prevent himself from falling. Soon, he decided his was going to hit the ground anyways and quickly retreated into his shell. The shell bounced twice before coming to a stop below the chaos in the air.

While that was going on, the fearow became angry at the trainer who unleashed that sad excuse of an attack on it. It aimed its claws at Leaf wanting hell-bent revenge. 'No way…' Leaf thought as Fearow inched closer to her; she began to high-tail it. Next, the unthinkable happened: the fearow picked up Leaf by the back and lifted her into the air.

She let out a blood-curdling scream, which was drowned out by the flock's cries and the thunder. Desperately crying for help, she looked around to see if she could get loose. Squirtle remained on the ground, not sure what to do at this point. Then, she reached for her second pokeball and threw it up in the air. Jigglypuff landed on the fearow's back and proceeded to pound the crap out of its head. Not feeling the effects of the attack, the fearow took a sharp turn to the right and threw Jigglypuff off into the air. In the process, the fearow loosened its grip on Leaf and she also headed straight for the ground. Luckily, they were only 15 feet in the air and she was able to rollout upon impact due to landing on a downhill. Jigglypuff was also on this same trajectory and landed snuggly in Leaf's arms. The fearow, however was not finished, with the flock ganging up behind it. Leaf suddenly had an idea.

By this time, the thundering was no longer a dominant boom, but just low rumbles, and the rain had lightened up for a little bit. She held up Jigglypuff towards the advancing flock and gave this insane command.

"Jigglypuff, I know if you take in enough air, your song will be amplified. I need you to do that when they get close enough. Ready?" Jigglypuff responded with affirmation and took in an obscenely large amount of air, much more than Kirby would in the video games Ash and Leaf played together in their younger days.

"Ready?" They waited until the flock was about 15 yards away. By this time, Squirtle had caught up to them.

"NOW!" Jigglypuff unleashed her song. The flock stopped mid-flight and began to drift downwards, closing their eyes in the process. The scene was absolutely marvelous. The sky began to rain spearows and fearow as the song continued in all its glory. Fortunately, the cliff side only amplified the song even further, putting everything in the valley to a deep sleep.

Leaf had trouble keeping awake while this was going on. She set Jigglypuff down and curled up in a ball in the rain. She soon passed out along with the flock and Squirtle right beside her. 'I hate birds,' Leaf thought right before going into a deep sleep.

-_With Gary_-

_8:45pm_

Gary had no idea when he fell asleep. He figured that random song that bounced off the cliff walls is what did it. 'No doubt Leaf would use that. I guess she took out the spearows that way.' He let out a sigh and looked out from the cave. The rain had finally subsided to where it was okay to continue traveling on foot. The stars shined across the clear night sky while the crescent moon radiates through the dissipating clouds. He contemplated continuing the route into the night, or stay in the cave to rest. He took out his PokeGear to check the GPS.

'So according to PokeMaps, I'm about 7 miles from Viridian. If I start walking now, I should be able to get there in about 3 hours; it'll be midnight. Oh well, we can meet up in Viridian; it'll be good to travel alone for a bit. Three hours of peace and quiet.' Gary calculated as he packed up his belongings and got his pokemon back into their balls. "Alright guys, I know you're clearly injured and you both put up a good fight, so rest up until we get to the Pokemon Center. Hang on for three more hours." He stepped out of the cave to see the flock had retreated back to its nest. He took a left due north and pressed on into the night towards Viridian City. He had one lingering thought, though.

'I swear if it rains…'

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**A/N:** Reviews appreciated! Thanks! Also, if you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to PM me!


	4. Good Evening, Viridian!

**A/N: **This chapter is being released early due to class due dates and events going on this week and weekend. My blog for resources for my works is now live (found on my profile page under the writing style section). Check it out for stuff I use to help me write this story. I will be posting up material every now and then (or as readers request) on that blog.

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**Chapter 4: Good Evening, Viridian!**

_? – ?_

-_With Ash_-

There was something touching him. He could not tell what, but something was touching him in multiple places. The last thing he remembered was getting ice cream with Leaf at a festival. It was the annual Pallet Town Summer Festival they were at a couple of months ago. They had just finished riding a couple of rides and the Ferris wheel and had just gotten ice cream. But as they were eating ice cream, he felt a light poke to his right side. Leaf looked at him inquisitively, "Hey what's wrong? Is there something bothering you? Is it my yukata? Am I not pretty enough?" she asked in a panic. She was dressed in a lovely light blue and red yukata, fitting for her. He was wearing his normal red vest, black t-shirt, jeans, sneakers, and who could not forget his favorite red hat. He found himself blushing the entire time…at Leaf, whose brunette hair waved in the wind like soft grass and her complexion sparked like the starry night sky. 'Well she's certainly lovely this evening.'

"No, no, no! Wait…something is poking my right side." Ash quickly responded, waving his hands in defense not wanting to anger her. He looked down to his right, swearing to hear a cry of a pikachu. He remembered leaving Pikachu at home with his mother while they were at the festival. But he still heard a Pikachu frantically calling his name. This was followed by another frantic call and poking (well now it's more of a head-butt) by a bulbasaur. Ash tried to remember when he owned a bulbasaur. He knew Professor Oak had several running around his lab, but most did not really pay attention to him. So naturally he thought this was a very odd occurrence. Suddenly, he felt an electric shock, which made all traces of this scene fade to black.

"WAHH!" Ash let out a small yelp has he jolted awake. As he sat himself up, he found himself sitting on grassland with the dirt path only a few yards away. He looked up at the sky to find the sun high in the sky. "What the hell happened?" he wondered to himself as he looked at his two very injured, but otherwise okay pokemon. Pikachu could barely walk and Bulbasaur could barely crawl. It was truly a depressing sight.

"Alright, Bulbasaur, you need to rest up until we get to Viridian City. Return!" The ball swallowed Bulbasaur and kept it safely protected from any more harm. Suddenly, his mind begins to flood with the events that transpired the previous evening. Everything from the pidgey to the spearows, to the number Pikachu's thundershock did to everyone in sight. He then noticed the spearows were gone.

'Sigh…too bad I couldn't catch one,' Ash lamented as he pulled his PokeGear out. He checked what time it was.

'It's 10:15 in the morning,' he thought, 'how long was I knocked out?! Is Leaf and Gary okay? I think Gary can take care of himself, but what about Leaf?' He looked at his PokeGear hoping for signal but was thoroughly disappointed when there was not even a single bar. 'At least the GPS works. If anything, I can always meet the two in Viridian. I might as well head out.' He gathered his bag and started down the trail to Viridian City.

-_With Leaf_-

? – ?

There were lights, lights everywhere. It was the evening of the Pallet Town Summer Festival. The sounds of laughter, joy, and puking were heard (well, just in front of the "Dragon Master" ride that was supposedly the scariest ride in all of Kanto; it barely topped 75 feet and people were still throwing up). She honestly did not get it; it was basically a very tall kiddy ride. Ash, who she found her arms clung to, looked at her in anticipation of the ride's review as they stepped off.

"I'm pretty sure there's scarier in Celadon. That was nothing! I'm not sure what people's deal is," Leaf pondered.

"I'm pretty sure the people who go here have never left town, much like we haven't left town yet." Ash countered. Leaf giggled playfully at the remark, although her attention was drawn to her right side. She felt a series of jabs to her kidneys. She giggled again, "Ash! Stop it! That tickles! Heeheeheeeee!" Ash looked at her confused, on the opposite side of the jabs.

"Whatayah mean, Leaf? I'm over here…" Leaf looked to her left, and was slightly disappointed.

"Then who was that poking me on my right side?" There was a faint cry of a jigglypuff as the series of pokes continued. She swore she left Jigglypuff at home; just what was it doing here? Then a cry of a squirtle was heard. 'Wait…a squirtle? When did I ever own a squirtle? I saw one at Grandpa's lab, but never actually interacted with one…wait a second…I'm not actually at a festival am I' She then heard an angry cry of Jigglypuff and then felt a very hard slap. Her surroundings faded to black in a flash.

"OW!" Leaf cried, forcing herself up and rubbing her cheeks where Jigglypuff made impact. She looked at her right where she saw Jigglypuff and Squirtle looking at her inquisitively. "Where am I?" she wondered out loud as she took in her surroundings. To her right was a cliff with grassland to the left. Behind her was a hill where she deduced that she must have rolled down. She looked down at her attire and saw it was caked with mud. 'Ah crap…I'm gonna have to wash these later…'

"Guys," Leaf talked to her pokemon, "what happened out here? I'm a complete mess and it looked like it rained." She took a minute to where she looked at the imprint she left in the mud. After giving it an intense stare, the memories of yesterday came flooding back, everything from the pidgey, to outrunning the spearows, to being picked up by the fearow and tossed to the ground. She shuttered at the thought. She was never going to see birds the same way again.

"Alright, let's say we get going to Viridian City and get there before nightfall" Leaf decided as she pulled out her PokeGear to get her bearings. Squirtle and Jigglypuff nodded in agreement and they made their way back to the path.

-_Somewhere on Route 1_-

_12:00pm_

The sun blanketed the Western Peninsula in heat and humidity. Its punishing rays shined down onto the route where we find Ash and Pikachu walking for what seemed like eternity…well it has only been an hour and a half walking down the path. He contemplated on stopping for lunch until he saw a figure in the distance, a girl in a white fedora to be exact. 'Wait…a girl in a white fedora. Only one person I know wears that!'

"Leaf!" Ash shouted at the top of his lungs. The girl looked back at him

"Hmm?" Leaf said as she turned to look behind her. She could spot a boy in a red and white hat, running quickly in her direction. 'Oh! It's Ash!'

"Ash!" Leaf shouted as she gave an energetic, friendly wave. When the two trainers met up with each other, Leaf embraced him in a tight hug, not caring if either of them was caked in mud. Ash did not really know how to respond. 'Do I hug back?' he wondered as Leaf let go.

"Oh Ash, I'm glad you're okay after what happened yesterday! It was horrible!" Leaf went on and on about her escapades with the fearow of death and its minions of spearows. Ash was incredibly shocked that she got to battle a fearow! "Hey! I didn't get to see a fearow! NOT FAIR!" Ash pouted.

"What?! THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY WHEN I'VE JUST FINISHED TELLING YOU I ALMOST DIED?!" Leaf screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Oh, sorry," Ash replied meekly, "but you're okay and that's all that matters, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so. You're still an insensitive jerk, though," Leaf muttered, giving Ash a cold stare.

"I know, I know. I said I'm sorry!" Ash tried to reason. Leaf looked at him for a second before her eyes softened.

"Damn it! I can never stay mad at you, ever…" Ash only smiled at this.

"Now what do you say we find a fearow to capture!" Ash exclaimed. Leaf's right eye twitched.

"Ummmm, how about HELL NO!" Leaf screamed at the top her lungs, "I want to stay away from those things…and ALL birds if possible!"

"Oh c'mon, Leaf. They're not that bad."

"I swear it's impossible to get things through that think skull of yours. I HAVE DEVELOPED AN IRRATIONAL FEAR OF BIRDS, BIRD BRAIN!"

"Hey! That's not very nice of you!"

"No, it isn't. Now, let's eat lunch while we're here and then head over to Viridian where we can meet up with Gary." Ash and Leaf ate a couple of snacks Delia packed for them and then hit the road to Viridian. All was well for the next 4 hours they walked together engaged in small talk.

-_Viridian City Gates_-

_5:00pm_

The city was not as spread out as they thought it was. Here at the gate lies the end of the roadway that led travelers straight into downtown. The one thing they noticed, though, was the city was covered in trees, lots and lots of trees. The two trainers and two pokemon looked up at the sign that read "Welcome to Viridian City: City of Trees. Population: 115,471".

"Interesting," Ash thought out loud, "for a city with this many people, I would've imagined the city to be bigger than this." Leaf looked at him dubiously.

"Ever thought that people live on the outskirts of town, under the sea of trees?" Leaf deadpanned.

"Oh yeah," Ash replied.

"Anyways, let's find the Pokemon Center and Hotel. PokeMaps said it's at the corner of Main Street and Indigo Road in downtown. It's about 3 miles from here. Let's move it!" The two made their way through the gate and onto the side of the boulevard. They found the street get wider as they saw more and more neighborhoods pop up out of nothingness, bust still buried in a sea of trees. They got to a large bridge where they hear cars hurrying back and forth to various destinations. Three bridges span the 8-lane freeway below: the wide bridge in the center carried traveling cars while the two spans that flanked it carried pedestrians on each side. The bridge itself was encased and supported by a viridian-colored lattice archway; its majestic form stood in front of the traveling party.

Ash ran to the center of the bridge and looked towards both sides. He hung his head over the side facing east and watched the eight lanes of cars below whiz by him and then looked beyond to the forests of the East. Pikachu and Bulbasaur (who had come out of its home) also stared on in wonder. Leaf, whom was impatiently waiting for them to finish taking in the view, decided it was getting late. She walked up beside him and stared out to the horizon, all while holding that flirtatious smile.

"You know, you're quite the cutie when trying to figure out what a freeway is. It's like you've never seen one before." Leaf suddenly said, startling Ash in the process.

"Whaa? But I've never seen this wide of a street or cars that go this fast! It's pretty neat," Ash countered, "and how is this even cute?"

"But the innocent look on your face says so! Now I'll ask that cute, innocent face of yours if we're going to continue to the Pokemon Center. Maybe we can share a room…" Leaf flirtatiously (and impatiently) replied, topping it off with a wink, as she started off in the direction of town. Ash grunted and motioned Pikachu and Bulbasaur to follow. Pretty soon, the houses gave way to small buildings to where they hit Indigo Road and modest-sized office towers and condos sprung up from the ground. Ash and Leaf continued down Indigo Road whilst looking at all of the buildings. It was a downtown like they had never seen.

It was around 9:00pm when they reached the Pokemon Center at the busy intersection of Main Street and Indigo Road. The building itself was circular-shaped and about 5 stories high, with convenient driveway and valet service. Unsurprisingly, the large, ball-shaped glass dome was in a shape of a pokeball. Ash and Leaf walked up to the door where they find two bellhops: one with violet hair and the other with magenta hair.

"Good evening, travelers, will you all be staying the night?" the bellhop, who was female, politely asked. Ash thought about it for a moment, but Leaf beat him to the thought.

"Yes, we'll be staying for the night. But first, we need to find the Pokemon Recovery Center. Do you know where that is?" Leaf quickly asked. The male bellhop gestured his hand towards the right.

"Follow this hallway and it should be further down. Enjoy your stay!" The male bellhop waved, wearing a crooked smile. Leaf looked back and was unnerved by the entire scene.

"Hey Ash," Leaf began as they walked into the center, "is it me or do those two look suspicious?"

"Now that you say it, I noticed the female one eyeing my pokeballs, like she was trying to see what's inside them. It's like they wanted them."

"Well I'm sure we're both imagining things. I mean, what's a bellhop to do with pokemon anyways?" They both reached the counter where they encountered a young, pink-haired woman donned in a nurse's attire accompanied by a Chansey in similar attire waiting behind the counter. She took notice of the two and promptly greeted them with a warm smile.

"Good evening and welcome to the Viridian City Pokemon Center. I am Nurse Joy. We offer the quickest recovery for any pokemon and the finest services for their trainers. Our services are free of charge if present with a valid trainer's certification and license." Ash and Leaf took out their pokedexes and flipped to the page with their information on it. When handed the devices, Nurse Joy looked confused.

"That's odd," Nurse Joy said as she looked at the strange, tablet looking device, "I've never seen a Trainer ID issued this way."

"Professor Oak of Pallet Town is having us test these prototype database tablets. It holds our trainer information as well, apparently," Ash said, hoping to provide clarification to the otherwise technologically confused nurse.

"Interesting…" Nurse Joy mused as she handed back the pokedexes, "how many we help you two this evening?"

"Well, we would like you to heal our pokemon. They've been in a pretty tough fight against a flock of spearow and fearow on the way up here," Ash said.

"Well that explains the mud-caked attire you two wear. Alright, if could just place your pokemon in this tray and I'll call for you when they are fully healed. The healing process should take no more than 90 minutes. And that means your Pikachu and Jigglypuff need to go back in their balls for the procedure to work." Pikachu and Jigglypuff frowned at the statement.

"C'mon, you two," Ash said, "if you guys want to get better, could you please just get inside your pokeballs?" Pikachu let out a sigh and hopped into his pokeball while Jiggly followed suit. The two trainers placed their pokeballs in the tray and handed it back to Nurse Joy, who in turn gave them a pager much like at the Pallet House back home.

"Oh yeah!" Ash remembered as she began to walk towards the back, "we're hungry and we were wondering what's the best place to eat around here."

"We have a self-service restaurant on the second floor. Please make yourselves at home while I take care of your pokemon. I will call you when the procedure is finished."

"Thank you!" Ash and Leaf yelled as they walked towards the escalator. Once they reached the top of the escalator, the floor opened up to a large cafeteria with a buffet line. There were tables everywhere and people as well as other trainers conversing with each other. The ceiling rose 3 stories up and was decorated with lights and fans and the walls held the rooms that housed travelers. Ash was solely focused on the amount of food he saw in front of him. As soon as he got his seemingly growing pile of food, Leaf looked at him disproving his choice amount.

"Are you sure we can afford all that, Ash?" Leaf asked out of concern. Ash looked at the amount of food he got…and suddenly realized that the food may cost money. When they got to the cashier, Leaf was ready to take out her debit card. The cashier stopped her, though with a smile on his face.

"Mam, you look like a trainer. All trainers get their first meal free and then a monthly allowance that is allowed to accumulate. The Pokemon League does not want the trainers to spend their own money on their journey. So if you have a Trainer's ID on you, you may pass through." Leaf looked at the cashier in disbelief.

"I don't believe you," she simply stated.

"Oh you don't?" The cashier kindly replied, "look at the sticker in front of you." Sure enough, there was a large, white sticker explaining what the cashier had said earlier and even had the official League seal on it. Leaf gasped and pulled out her pokedex. The cashier looked at her confused.

"This is a prototype device made by Professor Oak; it has the ability to hold our information in it as well," Leaf explained. The cashier nodded and let her through. Ash also pulled out his pokedex and followed through. They looked around for an empty table when they stumbled upon a person they wanted to see after the fiasco the day before.

"GARY!" they both yelled walking towards the teen in a black polo. Gary looked up from his dinner and groaned. 'Well it was nice while it lasted. At least they made it out of that hell.'

"Well it's about time you two got here. What kept you two?"

"I don't know. Maybe the fact we were knocked out for the entire night?" Leaf chided.

"Okay, okay, pesky girl," Gary muttered, "just eat your dinner. You both must be starving." And that's what Ash and Leaf did, Ash being comparable to those Saiyans he's read about in mangas and Leaf a little bit more civilized, but still scarfing down the mountain of food.

"So what have you been doing in town, Gary?" Ash piped up, trying to make conversation.

"Just training, waiting for you guys. I go west of town to the mountains for that during the day."

"Run into any other trainers?"

"No. Just training with Charmander and Pidgey."

"Ah," Ash ended, the conversation growing more awkward. Fortunately, the pager that Leaf had rang.

"Looks like your pokemon are healed. Go get them. I'm heading to bed," Gary said before heading off to one of the rooms. Ash and Leaf made their way back to the recovery center and passed by a meowth dressed in bellhop attire.

"Do you know where the bathroom is?" it asked in a heavy accent, akin to the accents found in Unova.

"Uhhh…I believe its pass the recovery center to the right…." Ash slowly said, not really believing his own ears when he thought the pokemon was actually talking.

"Thanks a bunch!" the pokemon said as it walked away. Leaf looked to Ash, who looked on at the pokemon walking towards the recovery center.

"Something's fishy here," Ash thought out loud as they neared the desk. Nurse Joy was waiting for them with their pokeballs in the tray.

"Here you two go. Your pokemon are all healed," Nurse Joy said, "please enjoy your complimentary –" the power was suddenly cut and the entire Pokemon Center plunged into darkness. Leaf instinctively latched onto Ash's arm and held onto it tightly. Sounds of frantic shuffling can be heard down the hallway and back into the recovery center. Ash wondered where Nurse Joy was, still not noticing Leaf attached to his left arm.

Within about 3 minutes of the power outage, there were sounds of pikachus running in a group returning emergency power to the recovery center. Nurse Joy made her back out from the generator room to find the two trainers staring blankly.

"Well that blackout was taken care of. Let me see if the pokemon are still here." Nurse Joy said as she left to check the recovery ward. The recovery center also held pokemon overnight for serious injuries and require more than 4 hours for recovery. She let out a gasp and ran back out to the desk.

"Oh no!" she cried in severe panic, "all of the critically injured pokemon have been stolen!" Ash and Leaf looked at each other and then back at Nurse Joy. She, in turn, looked them suspiciously.

"You both wouldn't know what happened to the pokemon, would you?"

"Why would we ever want to steal pokemon? We haven't moved from this spot from the entire time!" Ash gave her a face. "Shut up! Just because I'm the tricky one doesn't mean I steal for fun!"

"Well you both were the only ones in the room when the power went out!" The three then heard a hot air balloon taking off, and maniacal laughing over the Pokemon Center's intercom system.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," a female voice (oddly very similar to the female bellhop) began, "we would like to thank you for your generous donations to the Team Rocket Pokemon Project!"

"Your pokemon will be deeply cared for and well trained by us. So thank you again for your donations and we will be looking forward to see you all again!" a male voice joined in (again, oddly similar to the male bellhop). In an instant, the entire center was in uproar.

"Oh no! They stole our pokemon!"

"My pokemon were in the recovery ward!"

"How could the Pokemon Center let this happen?!"

"Somebody call the police!" Amidst the chaos, someone quietly, but quickly made their way to the front. Ash, Leaf, and Nurse Joy ran outside to see the balloon take off. Ash readied his pokeball.

"Oh hell no they don't!" Ash cried as he released a pokemon, "go Bulbasaur and Pikachu!" Bulbasaur and Pikachu stood at the ready, and visibly angry as well.

"C'mon out Squirtle and Jigglypuff!" Leaf cried as they both stood next to the other two pokemon ready for battle.

"Don't mind me if I join you two," a third voice suddenly joined in seemingly out of nowhere. The two trainers looked to the right and saw none other than Gary Oak, dressed in night wear. "Let's go Pidgey and Charmander!"

"Gary?! " Ash yelled, "the hell you get here?"

"As the only person at the hotel with a party of pokemon on him, other than you two apparently, I'm obliged to make sure no one's pokemon gets stolen. Now, let's take out these idiots. Charmander, scratch attack." He picked up Charmander and launched him towards the rising balloon. On one swipe, there was a large tear in the lining, sending the balloon (and the net of attached pokeballs) careening down into the center's front patio. The two bellhops landed face-first into the pavement, with the meowth Ash and Leaf encountered earlier landing on top of them. The pokeballs landed next to the fallen trio, miraculously still in the net. As quickly as they fell, they got back up. Now dressed in white Rocket uniforms (the female Rocket wearing a midriff), they both turned to the party, visibly angry.

"Just when we were about to make our biggest catch, you twerps had to go and ruin shit!" the female Rocket exploded.

"And we had a brilliant plan, too!" the male Rocket joined in. The meowth eyed Ash and Leaf.

"Oh by the way," the meowth spoke, "thanks for showing me where the bathroom was, the generator was right below it, heehee."

"So you guys were the ones who caused the power failure!" Ash cried, "who are you guys anyways?!"

"Oh, excuse us for being so rude," the female Rocket curtly replied.

"Please allow us to introduce ourselves," the male Rocket finished, spotlights coming out of thin air.

'What the hell?' all four thought as the courtyard floodlights randomly focused on them. As if on cue, microphones were in the hands of each of the Rockets.

"Prepare for trouble!" the female Rocket began.

"And make it double," the male Rocket continued.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extent our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket: blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth, that's right!" the talking meowth finally joined in. Nurse Joy just about had enough of the scene.

"Hey! You have no right to be stealing other trainers' pokemon!" The trio only manically laughed.

"Who cares? It's Team Rocket's mission to steal pokemon to make a profit. In this case, we have every right to steal pokemon!" James said his smooth tone as he prepared his pokeball.

"And because it's our mission, we won't let you get in our way! Go Ekans!" Jessie shouted, releasing a snake-like pokemon. Having never seen this pokemon, Ash consulted Dexter for analysis.

"Yo Dexter! Give me some info on Ekans," Ash said as he looked at the snake pokemon.

"Gladly will. Ekans, the snake pokemon. It moves silently and stealthily. Its diet consists of eggs of birds, such as Pidgey and Spearow, whole. Its known attacks are wrap, leer, poison sting, and bite."

"Bulbasaur, tackle the ekans and stabilize yourself! Don't let it wrap around you!" Bulbasaur ran up to the snake at full force. The snake slithered to the right and dodged the tackle. Bulbasaur stabilized himself upon landing and unleash a new attack from its bulb. Seeds began to spit out and land on the snake pokemon and it began to be covered in seedlings. It looked like it was losing stamina as the snake slowed down a bit. 'What attack was that?' Ash wondered.

"That would be leech seed," Leaf said, "Squirtle, bubble attack while its down!" Ekans was hit with a barrage of bubbles, crying out in pain as it happened. James noticed his partner in trouble. "Let's go Koffing."

Gary pulled out his pokedex, unsure what the purple balloon in front of the group is. "Koffing, the poison gas pokemon. Because it stores several kinds of toxic gases in its body, it is prone to exploding without warning. Known attacks are poison gas, tackle, smog, and smoke screen."

"Koffing," James commanded, "poison the squirt." On cue, the purple balloon let out a plume of purple gas from its pores. In an instant, everyone (including the Team Rocket Trio) was down on the ground. Squirtle withdrew to his shell. Pidgey flew up to avoid the poisonous cloud.

"Dammit, James!" Jessie yelled, "that only (cough cough) works in a one-on-one (cough cough) battle, now I'm (cough cough) down, too, idiot!" giving him a slap in the process.

"Sorry! Koff-(cough cough)-ing, use tackle on that (cough cough) squirtle!" The balloon pokemon tried to find Squirtle in the cloud, couldn't find it. Suddenly, a pair of blue legs appeared and launched itself at the balloon, tackling it out of the air.

"Pidgey (cough cough), gust attack to get rid of the cloud!" Pidgey flapped its wings hard and cleared the area of poisonous gas. Soon, the air was clear and everyone was back on their feet. Nurse joy took this opportunity to secure the bag of stolen pokemon.

"Jigglypuff, pound that Koffing into the ground!" Jigglypuff jumped up and completely pummeled the balloon into the ground, making a rather large crater.

"Leaf, help Nurse Joy guard the stolen pokemon while we send these bastards to the sky." Meowth was already nearing the bag and Nurse Joy stood in front of it, guarding it with her life.

"You can't take these pokemon!" she cried as her arms flew out protectively.

"Lady," the kitten pokemon chided, "move and you won't get hurt."

"Squirtle! Bubble attack!" and the bubbles made contact with the talking feline.

"Argh DAMMIT! I HATE WATER!" it cried as it was pushed back to the two human Rockets, whose pokemon are down at the moment. Leaf stood protectively in front of the bag of pokemon while Ash and Gary looked at each other.

"Ready for it?" Ash said as he smiled at Gary.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's just get this over with…" Gary replied as he readied Charmander.

"Thundershock! Ember!" they both shouted at the same time, the attacks combining to form a raging flame of electricity. The attack connected sending trio skyward with their pokemon, crying in anguish as well as fried from the flames and electricity.

"Damn that Pikachu!" Jessie cried.

"Damn that Charmander!" James added on as they faded to a point on the horizon, due north.

Once the battle was over (and all of the pokemon moderately injured), the party returned to the medical ward severely exhausted. The onlookers of the battle stared on as Leaf helped Nurse Joy carry the bag of stolen pokeballs back into lobby, followed by Ash, Gary, and the Officer Jenny that had just arrived on scene. The power had been restored and the crowd went wild as they walked through the front door.

"Thank you for saving our pokemon!"

"You guys are awesome!"

"I'm glad my pokemon are safe!"

"Can I have your number?" Leaf could tell that remark was meant for her only to walk on and ignore the douche of a trainer. Ash heard said comment and glared at the same trainer, giving off the impression to kill. The trainer slowly crouched into a fetal position, seeing the power of these trainers first-hand.

"Okay everyone! The pokemon will be returned to the ICU as they were. Please return to your rooms. Thank you! You four, come with me to the recovery ward" Officer Jenny yelled at the top of her lungs. Everyone made their way back up the escalators and elevators to their rooms and the party followed the officer to the lobby of the recovery center. As Leaf, Ash, and Nurse Joy finished putting back the pokeballs in their assigned slots, Gary sat with Officer Jenny to go over the details of the attempted robbery. Chansey brought out a pot of coffee and two cups with cream and sugar and Officer Jenny took out her tablet.

"Thank you, Chansey. Now, Mr. Oak, can you tell me a little about the robbery?"

"Yes. Well, it all started when…"

-_With Gary_-

_9:45pm_

Soon after Ash and Leaf left to retrieve their pokemon, Gary left the cafeteria to go up to his room. It was one of the rooms to the back of the hallway on the 4th floor. He trudged up the steps down the plain hallway. The hallway had a simple green carpet design with plants very now and then. Each wooden door he passed had a single peephole along with an aluminum-plated room number. He passed a set of elevators that traversed all five floors to his right and a vending machine area to the left. After a few more doors, he had finally reached his room at the end of the hallway. 'Is this 420? Yeah, it's 420'

He used his keycard to open the door to his room. It was a small room, fit with two bunk beds, a night stand separating the two with an alarm clock on top, a bathroom to the left of the entrance, and a couple dressers to finish it off. Overall, it was much like the dorms he went into while visiting Kanto State University in Celadon. He found his bed to the right and sat down in it. He laid his pokeballs down on the dresser and took a hard look at them, almost analyzing them.

"You guys trained hard and well today, but I expect an improvement tomorrow. Good job and get a good night's rest. I'll see you guys in the morning," Gary said with little to no trace of emotion. He got out his toiletries from his black backpack and proceeded to the bathroom. He came back out into the room brushing his teeth while checking messages on his PokeGear. 'Hmmmm…there's one from Mom, one from Sandra, one from Melanie, a couple of girls whom I don't know how they got my number, another from Grayson asking when I'm going to football camp, one from Jamie…why do I have so many fan girls…' He continued to read the essay of a text Sandra had sent him just before his journey chewing him out for choosing the pokemon journey over her. 'As bad as I feel about this, I felt I won't have a future with y-' That was when the room suddenly blacked out, the phone being the only light source. He quickly shot up and headed for the light switch, which he swore it was on. He flipped it a couple times to make sure it was indeed on and sure enough, there was no power. He poked his head outside to the hallway and also saw it was pitch black. He decided to retreat to his room and continue reading the text essay. About 4 minutes later, he heard the intercom above him come to life.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," a female voice rang throughout the room, "we would like to thank you for your generous donations to the Team Rocket Pokemon Project!"

"Your pokemon will be deeply cared for and well trained by us. So thank you again for your donations and we will be looking forward to see you all again!" a male voice joined in (again, oddly similar to the male bellhop). Gary immediately ran outside and straight into what looked like chaos and pandemonium. The cries of trainers losing their injured pokemon filled the hallways and pushing and shoving commenced in the darkness. Gary knew where the rear stairs were since it was right next to his room. He proceeded to slam through the fire door and jump down full flights of dark stairway. He burst out to what was the technology center and ran past the many rows of computers and video phone booths. After taking a sharp left, he found the dim lights of the recovery ward and the lobby where he found three people and five pokemon outside looking up at an escaping hot air balloon in the shape of a meowth…with a net full of pokeballs shining in the full moonlight.

"Oh HELL no!" he thought out loud as he ran towards the group. As he got closer, the outlines of the group slowly took form of three familiar people: Ash, Leaf, and Nurse Joy.

"Don't mind me if I join you two…"

-_Back to present time_-

"Okay, can you describe what the thieves looked like?"

"There was a girl, I think in her mid-20s with magenta hair, a guy about the same age with violet hair, and a talking meowth. All were in Rocket uniforms. Come to think of it, they were in bellhop attire when I met them earlier in the evening." Officer Jenny raised an eyebrow.

"A meowth that can speak?"

"Yeah, it was the strangest thing. It started spitting out stuff like 'Meowth, that's right!' and 'I wouldn't, if I were you, lady'…or something like that. My grandfather has never heard of such thing. But anyways, their names were Jessie, James, and unsurprisingly Meowth."

"…interesting…wait, did you say 'Rocket uniforms', like 'Team Rocket'?" Officer Jenny suddenly inquired, like she had an epiphany.

"Yeah, why?" Gary hesitantly asked, seeing Officer Jenny tense up like that. He had a hunch of who Team Rocket was.

"This is crucial information. Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Oak; you may return to your evening activities."

It was around 11:30pm when all questioning was finished and Officer Jenny left to report in. Gary bade his farewell for the evening, which left Ash, Leaf, and Nurse Joy in the recovery ward.

"Thank you guys so much for rescuing those injured pokemon. I don't know what I would've done without you three there. It was a much impressive display of battle. Are you three seasoned trainers?" Ash and Leaf looked at each other nervously.

"Hehe…we only stared our journey two days ago," Ash responded meekly. Nurse Joy's eyes dilated.

"Wow! You three have great potential to be amazing trainers! Keep it up and maybe you all have what it takes to get into the Pokemon League tournament."

"What do we need to do?" Leaf asked.

"You mean you don't know how to qualify?"

"I'm pretty sure I read it somewhere in the trainer's handbook…but I honestly don't remember," Ash said. He was pretty sure he read the entire thing, but glazed over a couple of sections; it was all a fleeting moment for him.

"You have to earn eight badges to be able to register at the complex about 35 miles northwest of the city." Ash and Leaf nodded in understanding.

"I'm sure you two need a room for the night seeing how it is quite late. Will we be needing two rooms?"

"Nah," Leaf quickly said, "we're comfortable sharing a room." The nurse raised her eyebrows, hinting at perversion.

"Oh really…" she slowly said, "you know that we have a noise policy at this center." Ash and Leaf faces fell, and their bodies followed immediately afterwards anime-style.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Leaf yelled. Ash's heart randomly dropped again, yet he still had no explanation to why it does this.

"As you say. Your room is Room 418. Here is your room key, please return it to the front desk when you check out. Elevators are to the left of the lobby, the stairs are beside this ward. Until then, have a good night and thank you for everything!" As soon as Ash and Leaf bid their farewells, they made their way to the elevators. Once they got to the 4th floor, they traversed the hallway to the end where there was a room beyond them before the emergency stairs. They opened the room to find a room exactly like how Gary described to Officer Jenny, only mirrored. Ash sat his belongings down next to the bed on the left and laid his pokeballs on the dresser while Leaf did the same on the right side of the bed. It was around midnight when they were completely ready for bed.

"Geeez, I'm exhausted," Ash yawned as he plopped down on his bed.

"You and me both," Leaf agreed, "and I didn't get to wash my clothes. Guess I'll have to wear my backup." Ash blushed at the thought, knowing full well what the backup clothing was and how it looked on her.

"And I'm going to wearing it just for you; you know you like it," Leaf added flirtatiously, moving closer to him in the process, "your blush shows it." She was literally leaning over him with a smirk.

"AM NOT!" Ash yelled at the top of his lungs.

"KEEP IT DOWN! I'M TRYING TO SLEEP HERE!" a muffled voice sounded through the walls, oddly sounding like Gary.

"Sorry!" Ash and Leaf said at the same time. They both returned to their beds and shut off the lights.

"Well good night! I'll see yah in the morning," Ash sleepily said as he got underneath the blankets.

"You, too. And sweet dreams," Leaf replied, the last bit whispered mostly to herself. Both trainers succumbed to a deep slumber as the night pressed on.

* * *

**A/N: **These author's notes that explain what is going on per chapter will now be moved to the blog. I will only do this if readers request for clarification on plot material Also, please review as I live and learn on the criticism of others.


	5. The Viridian Forest

**A/N: **My sincerest apologies for the delay in releasing this chapter. My schedule is a bit cramped right now and will delay future releases of chapters (classes, exams, projects, work, and other things that I constantly juggle). I will try my best to release the next chapter in two weeks at the earliest.

Thank you everyone who has reviewed my story so far! Also, thank you for the PMs that come in!

Also, I get questions about the conventions I use when typing "Bulbasaur" and "bulbasaur". To me, a pokemon is a type of animal; you would not capitalize "Dog" every time you type dog, unless the given name was actually Dog. The same concept is presented here in this work. "Bulbasaur" as a name is different than "the bulbasaur" as a type of pokemon, with pokemon being in lower case to also illustrate this concept. I hope that clears some misunderstandings some readers may have.

* * *

**Chapter 5: Strange Happenings in the Viridian Forest**

_October 3__rd__, 2007 –_ _8:00 AM_

It was a sluggish start for a pair of particular trainers happily snoozing underneath the covers. The musical chirps of pidgeys and other birds filled the morning sky. Puffy white clouds dot the horizon and a soft light filled the room as one sleepy Ash Ketchum slowly opened his eyes and turned his head towards the blaring alarm clock. A bout of soreness sprang up from all area of his body when he tried to sit himself up. He let out a soft groan when movement stirred from his left side.

"Good morning, Pikachu," Ash greeted groggily. Pikachu perked up and let out a purr as he jumped on Ash's lap and went back to sleep. Ash looked down at the small electric mouse and looked to the right. There on the other side of the room was Leaf happily snoozing away. Her snoring is incessant and quite audible, and a rather large stream of drool could be seen trickling down the side of her face onto her pillow. Her sheets and comforter are mangled at best. It is as if Leaf became a tornado in her dreams and destroyed what would be a town of bedding material. He could only attempt to hold back the laughter at the sight.

'Oh Leaf, you have no idea how attractive you look right now.' He proceeded to quietly pick himself up from his bed and made his way to the bathroom to complete his morning rituals.

Leaf had always been a rather heavy sleeper. Alarm clocks had little to no effect on her as it was her mother's booming voice that triggered her eyes to automatically open. She could never fathom the amount of effort needed to get herself out of her warm comforters. This morning, however, was a different kind of morning for Leaf. Her mother was not there to wake her up. There was no scent of delicious aroma of home brewed coffee around the house. There was not even a room of red to open her eyes to. There was, however, a pokemon that was repeatedly using her infamous Pound attack on the sleeping trainer.

"Hmmmm…what the…OW! WHAT THE HELL?! WHO'S HITTING ME?!" Leaf opened her eyes and retreated into a fetal position as she continued taking the onslaught of punches from one angry Jigglypuff. She, unlike Leaf, woke up the same time as Ash as the alarm went off. Seeing Ash getting ready made her wake up Leaf so they could be ready at the same time. Unfortunately, she knew it was near impossible to wake her up, and thus bringing about this very scene. Jigglypuff stopped the barrage of punches and stood on top of her trainer giving her an angry glare and letting out a fairly angry huff, or in this case "Puff!" Leaf took a good look at her surroundings and noticed there was a person missing from the bed on the other side of the room. She looked at Pikachu for an indication of where her traveling buddy was, only to be met with a point towards the bathroom and sounds of a shower running with steam escaping from the door crack.

'So he's in the shower,' Leaf thought, blushing at the thought. She could not perform her morning rituals with him in the bathroom, let alone go a second without thinking about him in the shower. 'Wait, what the hell? Did I just think about him being in the shower?' She let off a blush of a brighter shade of red thinking of all the possibilities of what he may or may not be doing in the shower. The situation did not get any better as he stepped out of the bathroom…with nothing but a towel on.

"I seem to have forgot my clothes out-" Ash opened the door to find Leaf face to face with him. They looked at each other for a moment. Time stood still between them. Leaf took note of his washboard-esque mid-section as well as his toned, yet not bulky upper body. His arms, while not three times the size of Leaf's, looked as if had enough mass to hold some serious power. Then, her eyes slowly made its way back down when she noticed there was only a towel. Ash looked down as well and noticed he was still in a towel.

"WAHHH! SORRY!" Ash screamed as he made his way back into the bathroom slamming the door shut. "Eh, Leaf?"

"…Yeah…" Leaf quietly replied, "…yah need something?"

"Yeah…I forgot my clothes on the bed. Can you get them for me and bring them to the bathroom door?"

"…sure…" Leaf got his set of clothes and went back up to the door.

"Okay…here you are." Ash opened the door just enough to stick his arm through to grab his clothes. He quickly changed and walked out of the bathroom again, this time in decent attire.

"Your turn, Leaf" She made her way into the bathroom, fearing the worst and let out a gulp in the process. Ash looked at her confusingly. She had always thought guys tend to leave the bathroom in a state of ruin and despair. Sharing a bathroom with a guy seemed like a daunting and impossible task, only to find that it was quite clean as she opened the door. She quickly got ready for the day.

Ash knew what outfit she was going to wear since her main outfit was caked in mud and they did not have time to wash them. He blushed thinking about it. Seeing her in that outfit would make any male within a 200 feet radius to collapse of blood loss through the nose. In about 20 minutes, the door opened again to reveal a female teenager in a _very_ form-fitting black dress, fitting enough to accentuate the curves she possessed and then some. He stared at the ground as she looked at him in confusion.

"Why are you staring at the ground," Leaf asked. Ash slowly looked up at her. He first noticed the short length of the skirt portion of the dress. Half of her thighs were visible with the other half being tightly hugged by the black dress. He made his way up to the torso where her body became outlined in an hour-glass shape. Underneath was probably a flat stomach, if not a six-pack since she swam on the middle school swim team (not to mention being the district champion twice, and second place to a girl named Misty from Cerulean City at the state championships). He then made his way to where he did not want to look. He tried to contain the blood flow to his head (well at both ends anyway), being surprisingly successful. There was not really much to say as it was all there, and hugged tightly by the dress. For a teenager, they were quite…developed. Leaf looked at him and finally understood what he was thinking. Instead of slapping him, though, she gave him a light flick to the forehead.

"Okay, Quagmire; eyes up here, buddy."

"OW! Okay, Okay" Ash quickly said as he stared back at her face. Leaf just could not pass up this opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

"So…you like what you see?" Leaf asked voluptuously. Ash's face instantly paled and he face-faulted…anime style. Leaf let out a laugh loud enough to potentially wake the entire center.

"AHAHAHA your face! Okay, let's see if we can meet up with Gary for breakfast and head to the forest, shall we?"

"Uhhhh…sure…" Ash slowly replied, following the ever attractive Leaf out into the hallway…only for Leaf to run into someone, knocking him down in the process.

"GAHHH! What the hell…watch where you're fucking goi-Oh, mornin' cousin," Gary said as he picked himself up.

"Well top of the morning to you, cousin," Leaf happily replied back, as if nothing happened. Gary took a second to see what Leaf was wearing, only to do a double-take.

"Why the hell are you wearing that? Are you just asking to be attacked and raped?" Gary asked. Leaf only smiled.

"Well it's my favorite dress and it's short enough to where it's not restrictive while walking. I'm pretty sure you like the dress."

"Well I can't say that I don't. I'm one of the few guys who doesn't get nose bleeds seeing you wear that."

"Well I hope not; that's incest, dude."

"I'm pretty sure Ashy-boy still has episodes when seeing you wear that. Isn't that right, Ashy-boy," Ash looked at him, red slowly creeping to his face.

"Hey! At least my nose didn't bleed like the other times!"

"And you're supposed to be used to it since you both are around each other so much. Heh."

"Well anyways," Leaf interrupted, "let's go downstairs and get something to eat, shall we?" The three trainers and two pokemon made their way down to the cafeteria to get the continental-style breakfast offered. This meal, of course, was paid using the debit card on the Trainer ID. Pikachu could live off of a bottle of ketchup if he had to. Jigglypuff enjoyed her bowl of cereal. Gary looked at both pokemon with curiosity.

"So Jigglypuff and Pikachu can eat normal food…interesting…"

Breakfast was eaten in near silence between the trainers. All three were still exhausted from last night's events. As quickly as breakfast started, it ended with Ash, Leaf, Gary, Pikachu, and Jigglypuff standing outside.

"Yo Ashy-boy," Gary suddenly spoke up, starling Ash.

"Hmm?"

"I want a rematch from the first day. I can't stand here knowing I lost to you." Ash looked at him confusingly.

"What's that going to prove?" Ash asked him out of concern, not really understanding why his was acting like this.

"I just need to know I can beat you, okay?!" Gary yelled, "I can't sleep at night knowing I lost to you on my very first match. I just need to beat you fair and square so we can even out the numbers." It was Leaf's turn to look at Gary. She let out a long-winded sigh.

"Gary, you know this won't solve any-"

"Fine, let's battle. Let's go behind the center where there is a field," Ash said, completely changing his entire demeanor. His voice was thick and dark; he was ready for battle. They made their way towards the back of the Pokemon Center where they found a field with markings that's reminiscent of a soccer field. Behind that was the large city park. They both took each side with Leaf watching in the middle. Pikachu looked at him with hesitation. Leaf had only one thought, 'Here we go again…'

"Pidgey! Let's go!" Gary yelled. Pidgey cried out ready for battle and landed on the ground. Gary's pidgey was the only bird Leaf was not afraid of; she knew he had control over his bird.

"Let's do this, Pikachu," Ash commanded rather calmly. Pikachu let out a sigh. In the pokemon language, Pikachu decided to communicate with Pidgey.

'_Really sorry to do this to you. I don't really want to fight you since we're all friends,_' Pikachu reasoned.

'_Eh…what are you gonna do. I didn't like you much anyways,_' Pidgey replied.

'_What?!_'

"Pikachu! Tackle attack!" Pikachu, having heard Pidgey's apparent dislike of him, charged the bird with full force. Pidgey sensed this attack and glided straight up into the air.

"Pidgey! Peck attack in air raid formation!" Gary yelled.

'Air raid formation?' Ash thought as Pidgey made a vertical loop and dove back down, twisting back into dive position and aimed straight for Pikachu.

"Pikachu, dodge the attack and bounce off the ledge." And Pikachu did just that, he was now airborne and flying towards the Pidgey, who was closing in fast.

"Thundershock!"

"PIKACHUUU!" A massive current of electricity flowed from the cheeks of the mouse and directly into Pidgey, completely decimating the poor bird. Pidgey crashed down into the ground. Gary grunted as he returned the fallen pigeon. He looked at Ash, who pulled Pikachu out of battle. He knew what pokemon Gary was going to send out next.

"Charmander! Go!" Gary cried. Charmander looked almost ready to kill to avenge his fallen teammate. He let out a low growl while staring down field

"Bulbasaur! I choose you!" Ash cried in the same manner. Bulbasaur had the exact opposite demeanor; he was excited that he would face his rival. His soft smile slowly gave way to a smirk.

"Charmander! Ember!"

"Bulbasaur, dodge to the right and follow it up with tackle attack!" Bulbasaur successfully dodged the attack and counter-tackled, only to hit thin air. He lost balance and began to roll out.

"Charmander! Ember again while its down."

'Oh shit' Ash thought as Charmander charged a small fire ball. Ash knew that grass was weak to fire, but also knew that any fire ball was going to take at least a little time to charge up.

"Stabilize yourself and quickly release leech seed!" Bulbasaur got back up just in the nick of time as the ember was released. He jumped to the right, bounced off the ground, and aimed its bulb towards the lizard, releasing seeds. The seeds landed on Charmander and quickly grew vines to constrict the lizard, slowly draining the life out of it. Bulbasaur did not even need to hear the next command to finish out the battle.

"Tackle attack!" Bulbasaur charged like a raging bull and knocked Charmander at least 20 feet back and slowly skidded to a stop. The seeds began to wear off at that point.

"Ember again! And this time don't miss!" Charmander let out a fire ball towards the bulb pokemon, who had forgotten the seedlings wore off. The fire ball hit the bulb and he cried out in pain. Still, he worked through it and stood back up. Without an utter of a single command, Bulbasaur tackled Charmander, knocking the last bit of strength out of it. Bulbasaur stood proudly at its victory. Gary sullenly returned Charmander into its ball with Ash folloing suit with his bulbasaur. They got to the walked into the recovery ward to find Nurse Joy at the desk.

"Welcome to the Poke-…haven't you three done enough battling for the week?" Nurse Joy asked sarcastically. Gary did not utter a word. He just laid his pokemon in the tray and waited. Ash did the same. No one talked to each other for a good half an hour before both pagers went off.

"Your pokemon are ready. Enjoy your day!" Nurse Joy happily said, trying to ease the tension in the air. The air still remained as tense as ever. The three trainers made their way to the front courtyard.

"I'm going to travel on my own," Gary finally said. Ash and Leaf looked at him.

"…why?" Leaf asked out of concern.

"I just can't bear the fact that I lost to him twice! I've trained hard all yesterday to see that I can beat him! I still couldn't do it! Having to see the smug look on his face only pisses me off even more! Damn it! I can't stand being second to a LUNATIC!" Gary yelled at the top of his lungs vigorously pointing his finger towards Ash, who looked hurt by that comment. And on that note, he ran off down Main Street to the north towards the Viridian Forest.

It was around 9:30 AM when Ash and Leaf started down Main Street, with Pikachu and Jigglypuff in tow. The sun was higher up in the sky and its rays glistened off the mid-rises that fill the skyline. The street was bustling with traffic and people walking about downtown. There was a particular building that Leaf was looking at with the name Barlin Technologies in bright red near the top floor.

"So this is where Dad works…interesting. I wonder what he's doing right now…" Leaf mused as they continued walking. Viridian City as a whole is a relatively hilly area. Perched atop of the highest hill half a mile away was a round building with classical architecture. They both stopped to look at it when a passerby approached them.

"Oh," a voice rang out from behind. Ash and Leaf quickly turned around to find a young (well who appears to be young; one can never tell these days) woman donning a soft smile, "…you must want to know what that building is. That's the Viridian City Gym. It's been the centerpiece of this city for well over 20 years until recently when it mysteriously closed down."

"So you mean gym battles go on in there?" Ash wondered out loud.

"Well they don't anymore. Not sure why it closed down a couple of months ago. It used to be the most difficult gym in the region. If you want to start on gyms, why not try Pewter City. It's about 25 miles north of here."

"Well that's where we're planning on heading to," Leaf replied.

"Well at this rate, you'll be spending the night in the Viridian forest. Good luck with that," the woman snickered as she continued her path south.

"What's so bad about the Viridian Forest? I bet there is a ton of pokemon in there!" Ash happily thought. Leaf groaned in response.

"You have a one-track mind, don't you…" Leaf sighed as they continued north and out of the city.

-_Northern Viridian Gate/Route 2_-

_10:15 AM_

The cityscape continued to wane in the distance as Ash and Leaf came upon the North Gate where the road ends. They looked back at the skyline upon the hill.

"Well it was nice to see the city where Dad works. Quite pretty and different compared to Pallet Town. I'm kinda sad we didn't get to explore the city a little more," Leaf said as she rested her hands at her hips.

"I'm sure we'll get to explore the city on the way to the League. We'll have to pass through there anyways," Ash replied, earning a strange look from Leaf.

"I guess you're right (for once). Now let's get going; I don't want to get stuck in the middle of a forest at sundown."

"Wait! Whaddayah mean 'for once'?! C'mon, I'm not that dumb…"

"Hah, whatevs. Let's get going, already!" They made their way down the winding path, walking for a little over 2 hours. They had only run in to a couple of rattata (not that they have not seen them already, but Pikachu and Bulbasaur got some good practice in), and a couple of pidgeys which Leaf immediately ran away from, so it made for a very long and boring 2 hours. Trees surrounded them on all sides and only continued to get thicker as they progressed. The canopy's domain exponentially got denser as any trace of the sun began to fade away above the trees. Then, they saw what appears to be a building of some sort.

-_Viridian Forest South Visitors Center_-

_12:30 PM_

"What is this building doing in the middle of the pathway?" Ash wondered out loud.

"Dunno, but we'll have to go through it to get into the forest. Let's eat a quick lunch first and rest a bit." Leaf said. They made their way inside to find what looks to be a small visitor's center. Brochures of types of pokemon that could be found in the forest, as well as tourist opportunities for both Viridian City and Pewter City, lined a shelf on one side of the room. The center of the room had benches facing back to back. On the other side, there was an information desk with a snack and drink concession, and a lady tending it. She had a long, beautiful lock of blonde hair that reached down to her knees. Her brown eyes sparkled in the light. The yellow dress reminiscent of traditional rural wear covered the black long-sleeve shirt she was wearing underneath with her tightly-fit jeans. Looking at her waist, she was armed with 3 pokemon and a rather long katana. She smiled at the teens that had just wondered in, looking confused at why there would be a lady well-armed and ready to kill tending a visitor center.

"Why hello, you two," she greeted, "welcome to the Viridian Forest Visitors Center. Please enjoy the adventures and mysteries the Viridian Forest has to offer." Ash and Leaf looked at her again, not saying as much of a word.

"I see you two still seem confused. My name is Elise Lighthouse, I'm the manager and guardian of the Viridian Forest. It's my duty to keep the forest in stability for the future generations of pokemon who live here. Usually it's my daughter who greets travelers in here while I'm on patrol in the forest. But today, she's attending school. You may run into her this afternoon since it's her turn to patrol. She's kinda short and always rides on her Doduo.

"The pathway through the Viridian Forest isn't a straight path since the area is quite hilly. Careful not to get lost; the forest is about 10 miles long and there are multiple pathways, so it may take a couple days. Also, I see you have PokeGears…they don't receive any reception in the forest. The maps can be found on the brochures over there. And the entrance to the forest is at the other doorway there. Now we got that cleared up, need anything to snack on?" The two trainers were still trying to wrap their heads around the slough of information that was just thrown.

"I think we'll…eat lunch before heading into the forest…" Leaf said uneasily. They both took one bench and sat down and their pokemon climbed up to join them. Ash dug in his bag for some snacks they can eat, finding three granola bars and a bottle of ketchup his mom packed. Everyone devoured their bar in less than two minutes (Pikachu drinking about half of the bottle). Leaf was the first to stand up and head towards the double doors. Ash, unsurprisingly, was not following suit.

"C'mon, Ash…let's make some good distance already; it's 1:00 and we won't make it out of the forest at this rate!" Leaf cried.

"C'mon…I wanna rest a little!" Ash whined back. Even Pikachu and Jigglypuff were tugging on Ash for him to get up. "So all three of you against me, huh. Fine, we'll go." And with that, they opened the doors to the Viridian Forest.

The forest was, for lack of better term, dense. The sunlight that attempted to penetrate the forest's canopy fortress was instantly denied; only a select few rays got through. At early afternoon, it mind as well be midnight. There were sparse patches of grass where the sun shone through. The pathways of the forest meander in and around the sloping hills and through dense forest. Ash and Leaf just could not wait to get out of there.

"Dude…this place is really dark. And it's in the middle of the day time! Do you have the map?" Leaf nervously whispered. Ash looked around in his bag and pulled out a large map of what was literally all of the possible pathways. The tangle of black lines did not help much for poor Ash; he decided to guess anyways.

"So we'll just walk straight ahead then…" Ash decided, thinking it was the safest bet. They walked forward for what seemed to be a couple miles until Leaf felt something at her feet.

"Hold up. I feel something crawling up my leg." She reached down to her right leg and grabbed whatever was crawling up her leg. She looked carefully at the creature and noticed it was small, long, and green. It had many pairs of tiny stubs along the body as well as a pink antenna-like extension and two large eyes. Ash took out Dexter to see what this strange pokemon was.

"Caterpie: the Worm Pokemon. Caterpie uses the suction cups on its feet to climb trees and feed on its favorite leaves. Its known attacks are Tackle and String Shot."

"String Shot?" Leaf wondered as the caterpie sprayed a silky substance straight in her face. "AHHH! Ash! I CAN'T SEE!" She tore all of the silk off her face and pulled out Squirtle.

"That's it! This bug's pissing me off! Squirtle, Bubble!" Leaf cried. Squirtle unleashed a torrent of bubbles at the bug, only for it to bounce off like nothing happened. The bug unleashed a tackle on the turtle, but could not take it down like it wanted to. Squirtle easily got back up and readied for the next attack.

"Leaf! Looks like it's strong against water!" Ash yelled from the sidelines.

"Yeah! Thanks, I figured that one out already!" Leaf sharply responded, "Squirtle, Tackle attack!" Squirtle rammed the poor bug hard enough to send it back several yards, effectively knocking it out of battle. Leaf took this as a signal to throw an empty pokeball.

"Pokeball, go!" The ball hit the bug, and was instantly absorbed by the white plasma. The ball's locking mechanism continued to blink until the ball itself stopped wobbling. Once the ball shutdown noise was heard, Leaf walked forward to pick up the pokeball.

"Yes! Finally caught a pokemon!" Leaf happily cried with Jigglypuff gleefully cheering as well. Ash looked glum all of the sudden. "Hey…what's wrong?"

"Eh, nothing really; I haven't been able to catch a pokemon yet, that's all," he gloomily said.

"Oh don't worry! There's a bunch of pokemon here; you'll find one you can catch."

"Heh, I hope so." They trekked on for what felt like 20 miles, but it was really only 2 miles. The forest was still dark as ever. However, Ash began to notice the abundance of life in the trees. There were specs of green diamond shapes clinging to the high areas of wide trunks and specs of yellow hanging from the branches. He walked up to one tree and stared at it for a little bit. Pikachu seemed mesmerized as well. 'Hmmmm…these must be sleeping cocoons of caterpies and another pokemon…best not to wake them up…' Pikachu nodded in agreement and started to make his way back to the path.

Leaf, whom kept walking forward, looked back to find Ash not by her side. Now sensing panic and fear, she darts her head side to side to find Ash; he was nowhere to be found. Sweat permeated through her skin and her dress. Her muscles started to tense up and she froze in her tracks when she heard rustling in the dark canopy above. Jigglypuff looked up, trying to find the sound. 'It better not be a bird…it better not be a bird…it better not be a bird…' she kept repeating in her head as she looked up, dropping her bag and fedora in the process.

Ash decided it was better to keep moving than to wonder at a couple of cocoons who may or may not be guarded by its queen. He and Pikachu walked up to what appears to be a frozen and frightened Leaf. Taking this opportunity (and to Pikachu's disapproval), he tip-toed behind her and tapped her on her shoulder, complete with a short, pronounced "Boo!" The shriek that followed could be heard for miles.

-_Elsewhere in the Viridian Forest_-

There was a man, a woman, and a feline pokemon wandering about the strange forest. They look like they have gone through hell and back with burn marks, scratches, and bruises everywhere. It did not help that their phones received no signal; they did not have a map to find out where they are. The man spoke first.

"Ummm…Jessie. I know you're still in a bad mood from yesterday, but we've been walking the entire morning. Is there any way we can, you know, take a rest?" he said sheepishly, especially the last bit. Jessie's face became even more cross than it already was; in fact, she gave off the intent to kill whoever as much uttered a single word in her direction. Completely frustrated, she turned around to the two, who looked worse for wear.

"I don't FUCKING care how FUCKING tired you are! I just want to find a FUCKING way out of this FUCKING forest and think of a FUCKING way to explain this FUCKING failure to the FUCKING Boss. I mean, we've never failed fucking a mission before. The Boss has high expectations for us! HOW COULD WE HAVE FAILED?! IT WAS JUST RAIDING A FUCKING POKEMON CENTER!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, almost standing over her poor teammates. James and Meowth cowered in fear, hoping they would at least survive the next five or so minutes. It was bad enough that the team that was supposed to perform the raid got reassigned to desk work in lieu of their mishap; Jessie and her team was to pick up the slack. This, unfortunately, did not help the cause one bit; it only made things worse.

"I never asked to do this assignment. I swear my sister can be an asshole sometimes." James looked at her curiously.

"Oh. How is Jamie, by the way?" James asked out of curiosity. They have met before while James was still a probie and his instructor was none other than Jamie.

"She's well. The Boss takes a great liking to her, although she's more in tune with his mother than anything else. Same deal with Mom. I don't think anyone likes the Boss much, except maybe that Domino person I keep hearing about. Maybe Butch and Cassidy as well…oh well."

"Well don't you like the Boss, Jessie?"

"He's okay. He's still an asshole when you try to talk to him and has this weird 'oh look at me, I'm the shit 'cuz I have power' deal. Couldn't really get past that. Anyways, we have to find a way out of here and back to Saff-" a shriek could be heard in the distance.

"Uh Jessie…" James spoke nervously, "…did you hear that…"

"…yes I did…"

"…how about you, Meowth…"

"…uh huh…"

"…so uh…run?" Meowth looked at him.

"…yup…" The three looked at each other and nodded.

"WAAAAH!" all three yelled as their legs carried them further and further into the forest, the outlines of their bodies becoming more and more faded as they ran into the darkness.

-_Back with Ash and Leaf_-

There was a loud scream that echoed Leaf's shriek of surprise, fear, and panic. Ash and Pikachu were on the floor crouched in fetal positions with their arms tightly caressing his ears; that shriek was enough to bring them down past their knees. Only one thing was going through Ash's mind, though…

'…worth it!'

Pikachu's thought was more "Fear of the Wrath of Leaf" more than anything else. Leaf looked down at the fallen trainer and pokemon, arms sternly placed on her hips and mouth seething in anger. Her brown eyes bore down at the two until she noticed something on Ash's head.

"Hey Ash," Leaf suddenly said, breaking out of her cold, hazardous glare, "yah might want to feel your head." Ash could hear her snicker after that. He wondered what was funny as he felt his head. At first, he would pass her off as crazy and insane…until he felt the brim of hat. As a matter of fact, it moved over the edge and in visible sight. There, a figure of a group of spheres connected together, growing smaller in size as one looked up. At the bottom of the spheres were a sharp point and a pink snout. These spheres were covered in tiny pink stubs that Ash guessed served as feet. As if on instinct, quickly shot to his feet, throwing the poor bug a good 6 yards ahead of him. Leaf flipped out her pokedex as it spoke.

"So you finally decide to use me! I've been sitting here waiting while my two other companions see pokemon. You just let me sit here idly downloading their information! What an ungrateful trainer!" the pokedex spat, surprising Leaf and Ash. 'Is it normal for pokedexes to have anger issues? Let alone a personality? Best deal with it later' Leaf thought as she regained her composure.

"That aside, my name is Dextra by the way. Shall I commence the scan of the pokemon?"

"…uh sure…" Leaf responded unsure of what to make of the situation.

"Then allow me. Weedle: the Hairy Bug Pokemon. The stinger on this pokemon's head guarantees that any attacker will get the point right where it hurts. Its known moves are Poison Sting and String Shot."

"I got this one," Ash confidently said, "Bulbasaur, let's get some good practice in!" Bulbasaur came out of its ball, already in tackle mode. Without having Ash telling him what to do, Bulbasaur tackled the bug, only to be met with a sheet of silk to the face. Bulbasaur tried to clear its face, but was having a bit of difficulty since it had to be on all fours. Weedle, being the surprisingly clever bug it was, took this opportunity to fire a Poison Sting, but completely misses failing to lock onto the target. Bulbasaur was still thrashing around when Ash had an idea.

"Bulbasaur! How good are you with bearings?" Bulbasaur called back with affirmation. He seemed to know his angles pretty well despite being blinded by silk.

"Okay when I tell you, you need to angle yourself left or right. Ready?" The weedle, of course, did not understand what was going on and was ready to fire another Poison Sting, this time the target being locked. It then released a Poison Sting directly at Bulbasaur.

"Quickly side-step to your right!" A side-step to the right caused the Poison Sting to unintentionally hit Pikachu, though not poisoning him. Pikachu let out an unceremonious cry in pain and plopped over. Ash looked down and over to his left.

"Oh shit! My bad Pikachu. Are you okay? You're not poisoned right?" Pikachu, while faced down, gave him a thumbs up. A sweat drop can be seen dripping from Ash's forehead.

"Bulbasaur, angle yourself 25 degrees to the left and fire a leech seed!" Bulbasaur complied and successfully angled himself exactly 25 degrees and unleashed a multitude of seeds straight ahead. As expected, the seeds hit the bug square in the face and seedlings sprout all over. This slowed down the weedle quite a bit. It wanted to throw another Poison Sting instead of going with a String Shot, but it was not quick enough to dodge the incoming tackle from Bulbasaur. This tackle was enough to completely knock it out. This was the cue for Ash to grab an empty pokeball and chuck it.

"Pokeball, Go!"

As the ball hit its target, the weedle disintegrated into red plasma and absorbed back in. The moments between absorption and confirmation were nerve-wracking. The ball wobbled back and forth what seemed to be at least two minutes. Ash found himself sweating bullets and Pikachu (who was now up standing after the stray blow to the head) on all fours, a stern look on his face hoping for a new teammate. Just when Ash was about to give up hope, the ball clicked off; Weedle was now his.

_3:30 PM_

They had been wondering aimlessly across the forest for over an hour (Ash still thinks they are on the right path). The scenery was much the same as an hour ago: trees, bug pokemon (which they battled for practice), and darkness. It was not until they heard rustling not in sync with their footsteps did they start to question if they were being followed.

"Hey Ash," Leaf suddenly spoke up.

"Yeah?"

"Uh…do you think someone is following us?"

"Why would you think that?"

"Oh it's just that I heard something that wasn't in sync with us." Ash stopped for a second.

"Leaf, stop real quick," Ash said quietly making sure to only be audible to Leaf. She stopped dead in her tracks and sure enough, there was a third footstep heard in the distance. In an instant, Ash threw himself in front of Leaf, protectively shielding her from any kind of harm.

"Hey! I can defend myself, you know!" Ash still held a defensive stance for both of them.

"Can't a guy show any chivalry around here?" he sighed as he looked in the distance behind them.

"Hey! I know you're following us. Come out and show yourself before I go over there and drag you out!" The culprit in question showed himself in the ray of sunlight that peaked through one of the openings. It was a teenager in a samurai outfit with a katana and two pokemon. Ash's first thought was 'What is with the people in this forest and traditional Kanto wear?'

"I hear there are several trainers wandering around here that were pretty tough. I want to see if it was you two."

"Where'd yah hear that?" Leaf curiously asked.

"Word travels fast out here in the boonies from Viridian City. They all say they saw a group of three trainers take down three pokemon thieves last night. It was two guys and a chick. One told me they saw a guy and a chick walking together that matches the group from yesterday and the ones I see in front of me. So who wants to prove me wrong?"

"Is this a challenge?" Ash said a bit darkly. A wicked smile arose from his face.

"Ah, so I see we'll battle. Here's how it's going to work: I have two pokemon. Each one of you will battle one pokemon using only one pokemon. Got it? Now who's up first?" Leaf jumped in front of Ash.

"I'll take the first round!"

"No way! You got the first round in catching a pokemon. My turn to have the first round!" Leaf glared at him.

"Fine! I'll get the next battle then!...oh and dibs on the gym leader."

"Okay…wait what?! Ah damn it!" the samurai was becoming impatient.

"Well if you two are done flirting with each other, I'd like to get this battle started now."

"Fine, fine!" Ash said as he readied his pokeball. He wanted to try out his new weedle, but one thing was preventing him from doing so: it was on its last legs of consciousness. 'If only I had something to heal it with real quick.' Luckily enough, as he reached into his bag, he pulled out a note.

'Thanks for helping out at the center yesterday. Here's a present for you I sneaked into both of your bags while you weren't looking. You might need it in the Viridian Forest. – Nurse Joy of Viridian City' He reached further in and felt something he for sure did not put in his bag. He pulled it out to reveal a Super Potion. And there were at least 5 in his bag. Apparently, it will instantly recover most pokemon injuries in an instant by spraying over the damaged areas. So that is what he did when calling the weedle out. It really looked like it was on its last legs. The samurai started to laugh.

"This is what the great defender of Viridian sends out? A weedle about to faint? This has to be a joke!" Ash sprayed the potion on the bug and all injuries were magically healed. Weedle stood proud and was ready to obey its new master.

"So that's how we're gonna play. Go Caterpie!" A caterpie stood at attention, waiting to tackle the other bug. The two bugs were in a staring contest. Each pokemon's mental trigger ready to be pulled. The stillness of the air between the two trainers and two pokemon was ever oppressing. No one wanted to make the first move. Leaf lied down on the patch of grass to take a short nap.

"Hey guys…wake me, Jigglypuff, and Pikachu up when you guys decide to attack, 'kay?" And with that, the three sunbathed in the precious sunlight.

-_The Viridian Forest South Visitors Center_-

Elise was tidying up the store when someone walked in through the door. This person happened to be rather short, wore a very similar outfit (although smaller), and had amber eyes and long blonde hair, complete with a straw hat; it was almost as if this person was the miniature version of Elise. She was carrying her book bag in as she greeted her.

"Hi, mom! I'm home!"

"Hello, dear. How was class?"

"Boring as always. Even with the advance classes they put me into, I've felt like I know everything they talk about. It's gotten to the point where I space out. Also…boys kinda scare me…"

"Ah, that's my girl. Boys should scare you. By the way, a couple of trainers came here from Viridian City and are now in the forest. I can sense them and I think they're lost. Wanna go help them out?"

"Is it those two that I've been hearing at school?"

"I'm pretty sure of it. Not sure why I haven't been able to piece it together while they were here…okay, go find them. I know where they are, but I want you to practice your abilities. Also, go find your brother…he's probably causing mayhem for confused travelers."

"Okay mom! I'll be back tonight!"

"Okay hun, be safe!" and the girl brought back out her doduo and rode into the forest.

-_Back at the battle scene_-

This was too much waiting. Ash decided would make the first move.

"Weedle! Poison Sting!" Caterpie, immediately taken by surprise, froze. The samurai yelled out the frozen caterpie as Weedle neared it. The sharp point on his head collided with the other bug, bringing it down. The samurai looked at his pokemon and saw a growing purple blotch on its head.

'Shit…he's been poisoned.' He let out a grumble trying to figure out what to do next. He had no antidote on him at the moment and he knew if he kept this up, he would have to go find his sister for healing; he would have to hold out for now.

"Caterpie! String-shot!" The silky thread was supposed to be aimed for Weedle, but clearly missed its mark and hit Pikachu in the face, unceremoniously jolting him out of dreamland. Pikachu tumbled backwards a couple times and landed face-down, still able to signal he was still okay.

"Sorry about that!" the samurai called from the other side, "my bad!"

Pikachu only let out a small "chuuu", which probably meant something like '_What the hell is up with me and being the butt monkey!_'

Weedle saw its teammate go down and decided to go for another Poison Sting. The point hit its mark again and sent Caterpie flying backwards. Caterpie tried to move, but the poison was clearly taking its toll on the pokemon. It was slow to move and struggled to even crawl. The samurai was hoping for one last hit before calling the match.

"Caterpie! Try and muster the most powerful tackle on the Weedle!" He thought that if he was going to lose this one, he might as well go out with a bang. The tackle, unfortunately, missed its mark again with Weedle dodging to the right, and colliding with the still down Pikachu. Ash swore he heard Pikachu swearing to himself.

'_I need to find a better viewing area…_'

"Hey Pikachu, you okay, buddy?"

"…chuuuu…"

"Good to see you're still fine, but you really should find a better viewing area."

'_I JUST FUCKING SAID THAT!_', or "…pika pi pika pikachuuuu…" its voice still muffled by the ground and the silk. Meanwhile, Caterpie collapsed on the ground, signaling it was done for the match. The samurai was quite astonished.

"Wow…I've never had someone take me out that quick before! You are the defender of Viridian. Now let's see about the girl, shall we?" Ash looked over to her and saw she was still snoozing. Then he remembered that when Leaf sleeps, she _sleeps_. Since simply talking to her will not do it, he went to the next best thing.

"Hey Jigglypuff," Ash called out. Jigglypuff was surprisingly easy to wake up, jumping at her name, "can you wake Leaf up, please?" She had a sinister smile on her face, which meant…

Leaf was happily skipping along in dreamland until she randomly felt her face forced to the right, like she was punched. Her head was forced in the other direction as well. This kept on going until the scenery around her faded into black. She opened her eyes to see three figures looking down at her: two trainers, and a pink round pokemon punching the living daylights out of her.

"OW! OW! OKAY! OKAY! I'm up, sheesh…"

"By the way, Leaf," Ash said, "your turn."

"Oooooh you beat him?"

"Nah…I'm happy that I lost?" Ash deadpanned.

"Hey! I can hear, yah know!" the samurai shouted from across the field, "Let's get this match going already!"

"Fine! Fine! Let's go Caterpie!" Leaf shouted.

"You're pretty, by the way (Ash grunted in annoyance). Allow me to introduce you to Weedle!" Ash's sweat dropped. 'I wonder what the battle could've been like if he used a weedle…probably a stalemate…'

Unlike Ash, Leaf wasted no time at all. "Caterpie! Tackle that weedle!"

"Weedle! Dodge it!" Caterpie was the faster of the two. Weedle was hit square in the face and flew backwards and hit the tree. Jigglypuff was cheering quite loudly on the sidelines with Pikachu attempting to quiet her down.

"Weedle! Get back up and counter with a String Shot!" Again, the string shot missed and hit…Jigglypuff square in the face. Jigglypuff, being the short-tempered pokemon she was, began to march over to the offending Weedle, but something was holding her back, or rather two things where holding her back. Pikachu and Squirtle (who popped out of its pokeball) tugging both of her arms back. For once, Pikachu was happy to not be the butt monkey. Caterpie fired a string-shot in return, completely blinding the Weedle.

"Weedle! Try to see through the strings and give it a Poison Sting!" Weedle tried as best as he could. He had found Caterpie and lunged forward. Caterpie simply dodged again and now Weedle has its stinger stuck into the ground, no hope of getting out.

"Caterpie! Tackle it to the sky!" Leaf shouted. The green bug launched itself at the yellow bug and sent it flying towards the canopy, almost through it when gravity decided it was time to fall back towards Earth. Weedle landed in front of its trainer, completely knocked out. By this time, a girl riding on what appears to be a two-headed ostrich shows up to the field. Ash, Leaf, Pikachu, and Jigglypuff looked at her and all thought the same thing.

'What is Elise doing here on a two-headed ostrich and WHEN THE HELLL DID SHE SHRINK?!'

"Hey Ricky!" the girl greeted with a friendly wave, "yah done yet? Mom was looking for you to make sure you're not disturbing other trainers. Oh wait, I see you did. Anywhoo, time to go back home. Mom's waiting for you. Dad should be home by 6, by the way."

"Okay. Well it was an honor to fight the defenders of Viridian. I wish you well on your respective journeys." The girl turned to the four.

"...ummmm...sorry for the trouble my brother caused. I hope this didn't delay your journey by a lot." Ash and Leaf looked at each other.

"No, it's no biggie," Leaf kindly replied, "it helped us get battle experience anyways."

"...ummm...for the trouble, here's a little something." The girl handed them each ¥500 notes.

"…uh thanks…" Ash replied, thinking it was weird to be handed money for winning.

"...ummmmm...enjoy your travels!" The girl waved as she and the samurai took off on the strange creature. Suddenly, a light bulb in Leaf went off.

"Oh!…I should've did a scan on that one…" Ash face-palmed himself while walking off into the distance.

"And now we'll never know…"

_7:30 PM_

Time marched on as the traveling pair descended deeper into the forest. By this time, the sun had set over the Silver Mountains leaving the forest in a near pitch-black environment. Ash found Leaf attached to his side for the entire 4 hours they had been walking and battling pokemon. The types of pokemon did not change much; it was still the same caterpies, weedles, metapods, and kakunas they had been running into the entire day. In all honesty, Ash thought they were completely lost, but he did not want to let Leaf know that; she is known to have a temper when things do not go right, or how she perceives as right. Eventually, they found an open spot in the canopy and looked up.

"Wow…look at all of the stars! It's just like back home on a clear night," Leaf murmured as her eyes and complexion sparkled. Ash caught a glimpse of her wonder and subconsciously gazed at her.

'Wow…her eyes sparkle like the night sky ab-…wait what the hell was that?' Unfortunately, Leaf also caught a glimpse of him staring in her direction.

'Is he…checking me out…?' They looked at each other for a moment and turned away quickly. All fantastical thoughts faded away when they heard the sounds of rustling again. As if on instinct, Ash protectively stood in front of Leaf again, only to be shoved away.

"Hey!" Leaf huffed, "I can hold my own, yah know!" Ash let out a deep sigh.

"Yeah you're strong alright. Explains the death grip you had on my right arm the _entire four hours _we've been walking."

"Sh-sh-shut up!" Leaf slapped his arm, "what if there're birds here?"

"What, I haven't seen a single bird out here. If anything, they're probably in the trees around us." Leaf recoiled in panic.

"THAT ISN'T MAKING ME FEEL ANY BETTER!"

"Alright, alright. Let's stop here and make camp. I'm tired and would like to rest for the night." Right after those words left his mouth, Ash saw movement in the depth of the forest. It was rapidly approaching the clearing and showed no sign of slowing down. Pikachu and Jigglypuff hid behind their respective trainers' leg and Ash and Leaf had their hand on their pokeballs ready to throw them. As soon as Ash was about to toss the ball, the figure showed itself; it was the same blond girl on the same two-headed ostrich they had seen earlier with the samurai, the same one that looked like a miniature version of the visitor center's manager.

"Who are you, and why do you look like a small version of Elise!" Leaf yelled at the poor girl, point her finger at her.

"Yeah! What kind of voodoo magic did you do to shrink her! Elise! I know you're in there! We'll save you!" Ash screamed. Sweat dropped from Leaf's forehead.

"Really, Ash; that's the angle you're going for?"

"What! She may have fallen to some spell that shrank her. Or put in a machine where you come out smaller than everything around you, like that one movie we saw when we were little where that entire family shrank because the dad made that one machine a-" Leaf smacked him on the back of the head.

"Oh shut up will you! Now, who are you and what do you want with us?" The girl looked at them and let out a nervous chuckle.

"…ummmm…Elise is my mom. My name is Amber…Amber Lighthouse…this is my friend Doddy. She takes me everywhere…oh and that Ricky guy you battled earlier today is my older brother; he's…hehehe…kinda nuts…"

'No kidding…' Ash thought, 'oh, best not to say that out loud.'

Leaf, seeing a chance, pulled out her pokedex to scan the pokemon.

"Finally you take the initiative! Geez, after you passed up the first opportunity, you learned! Good for you, now go get yourself a cookie!"

'I swear if this is how my pokedex is going to treat me, I might throw it on the ground and crush it with my own two feet while hearing it cry for Dexter's help. I wonder if Ash's does the same, or is at least nice to him.'

"Dextra, I really don't want to deal with your shit right now. Just please scan the pokemon in front of me and not be a total bitch for once."

"Commencing scan of pokemon. Duduo: the Twin Bird pokemon. It is a two-headed Pokémon that was discovered as a sudden mutation. It runs at a pace of over 60 miles per hour. Its known attacks are Peck, Growl, and Pursuit." Ash stared at it for a little bit.

"So this pokemon has two heads?" Ash blankly asked.

"No, it clearly has one because you need new prescription glasses," Leaf deadpanned.

"…anyways…I sensed you guys were a bit lost, so I'll tell you how to get out of here." Leaf let out a rather loud gasp.

"Wait…you sensed us? How did you do that? Are you magical? ARE YOU GOD?!" Ash spoke rather rapidly, his voice getting progressively louder. Leaf smacked him across the head, again.

"I swear I really want to know how you survived all those advance placement classes you were in with me…" Leaf deadpanned again. The light bulb in her head went off again. "Wait…we were lost? THE ENTIRE TIME?!" Ash's face paled rapidly, faster than drain-o draining the toilet.

"Um yeah…you were headed west the entire time instead of heading north like Mom said you would. If you kept going further, you would've hit the highway and that could never be good."

"Damn it Ash! I trusted you to lead us. Give me the map, doofus."

"…I'm sorry?…" Ash said nervously.

"Sorry isn't gonna cut it. You're gonna…you're gonna…" Leaf trailed off as she thought about it. She knew she would have also gotten lost. She instantly sank to her knees and broke down crying. Ash got down on his knees as well and tried to console her, being the good best friend he is.

"I'm sorry I got us lost. You can lead us this time. I won't mind."

"No…I'm sorry for yelling at you. You were trying your best and I probably would've gotten us lost as well."

"…anyways…now that that was settled, see the North Star over there?" Amber pointed towards a particularly bright star, "follow that star. Also, during the day, the entire forest slopes downward to the north. Dropping water should point you in the right direction. If it helps, I'll spend the night here with you guys and lead you all out."

"Thanks, but I mean we only have one tent that fits two people."

"Don't worry, I'll sleep outside since I see you two need your alone time," Amber sighed. She had taken a liking to Ash.

"Ummm…" Leaf started, "…sure. Although we aren't going out or anything." Amber's face lights up to this news. Leaf notes this and immediately regrets what she said. 'Oh shit…wait what? Why do I care?'

"But I think he likes someone. I don't know he never told me the name."

"HEY! I'M STANDING RIGHT HERE YOU KNOW!" Ash yelled.

"Well then, we'll eat a bit and then sleep. How does that sound? Actually, we probably won't need a tent tonight since it's clear out."

"No, it's not going to rain anytime soon. Let's camp out here." Amber agreed. With that being said, Ash setup the camp fire. The three ate some food that Amber brought out. It was a small helping of roast beef, lettuce, and potatoes, but enough for three people to eat. Pikachu finished his bottle of ketchup, Bulbasaur just ate…grass, Weedle did not eat at all, Jigglypuff ate her cereal bar, squirtle ate…grass, and caterpie ate…nothing. All in all, the camp around the fire was comfortable and no one could care less about the dark mysteries of the forest. They did not know that they were not the only ones in there.

_October 4__th__, 2007 – 7:30 AM_

Sunlight shown through the clearing as Ash's PokeGear went off. The trainer himself stirred and felt something touching him…wait, it was hugging him. He knew it was not a pokemon since it was wrapped around his waist. He looked down and saw a human arm clinging tightly to his body. He then noticed that something was poking his back, or rather a pair of things. Knowing that that was human arm, he _definitely _knew what those things were. He had noticed Amber's figure was not as "developed" yet, so he reached a logical, yet frightening conclusion: 'Leaf is cuddling with me…yet we were _definitely _not in this position as we fell asleep. This is just too weird.' He picked up his phone and looked at the time: 7:30 AM. Only one thought went through his mind at that moment, 'this is way too goddamn early…'

He knew that they had to get up, eat a quick breakfast, and leave so they can get to Pewter City in the afternoon. The only thing that stood in the way was…Leaf. Everyone else had awoke with the alarm except the sleeping beauty that was cuddling with Ash. He looked over to Jiggypuff, who have Ash a menacing glare.

"Hey don't look at me," Ash said defensively, "I didn't ask for this. Just wake your trainer up, will you?" Jigglypuff had gotten her pound perfected to the point where it would wake up her trainer with only one punch. There was an area of her cheek that was soft enough to be really sensitive. So Jigglypuff decided to give her a solid pound in that area. Sure enough, it really startled her.

"OW!...wait a second…" Leaf took a second to gather her bearings. She was not face up like she was when she fell asleep, her right arm was not where it used to be and she felt something large pressing against her…her right arm in front of it. All she could see was a mass of…black hair. She immediately knew who this was. She bounced up so quickly Ash tumbled several times.

"WAHH! OH MY GOD! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Are you okay?!" Leaf shrieked.

"I'm okay, I'm okay! I'm sure you just did that unconsciously. Don't worry about it!" Ash tried to reason with her, "let's just eat breakfast and hit the path since we need to be in Pewter by 5:00. Amber frowned the entire time.

'Looks like she likes him and she's prettier than me. Awww…' Amber internally sighed.

The three ate a quick breakfast of cereal bars after packing up and hit the road. It was silent for most of the trip. Leaf even tried to start a conversation with her.

"So ummm amber," Leaf began, "how old are you?"

"…ummmm…I'm 13 and a half. I'm in the 8th grade at McManas Middle School in Northern Viridian."

"So if you live out here, how do you get to school?"

"My Dad would usually drop me off in the morning and then go to work in Viridian. I would usually ride Doddy home since my Dad sign a paper that allows me to ride one."

"Ahhh…where does your Dad work?"

"Oh ummm…he works for some computer company. Barlin, was it?" Leaf's eyes widen.

"Oh cool! My dad works there as well!"

"…that's pretty cool…"

'Geeez, she's really shy, isn't she.' It was silent for the rest of the trip.

_12:00 PM_

Ash knew they were being followed, but decided to think nothing of it; after all, Leaf said she could hold her own if they got attacked. That did not stop is worry though. The only problem was the fact that the ones following the party was the last thing they wanted to be following them.

"Pssst…hey Jessie," James said while tip-toeing.

"What?" Jessie sharply hissed back.

"Why are we stealing the guy's Pikachu again?"

"Because it's abnormal that THAT Pikachu is super strong! I want to give it to the boss as an apology gift to make up for our failure of a raid."

"Sounds …like a good plan. But how are we going to steal it?"

"Just follow my lead…"

"Oh brother…" Meowth sighed as he crawled.

Ash, Leaf, and Amber heard a strange grumbling noise. Amber looked at Leaf, who in turn looked at Ash, who looked back at Leaf.

"What are yall looking at me for," Ash cried

"You're the one with the back hole for a stomach. It's just safe to assume as much," Leaf chuckled back.

"Hey! That's not always tr-" his stomach was telling him otherwise. Ash nervously chuckled and then looked down at his stomach…and started to scold at it.

"You know, when I was trying to prove a point to Leaf, you just HAD to ruin it, didn't you." Of course, the stomach responded with an even louder growl.

"…I hate you…" Leaf decided to stop the entire group.

"Okay, let's stop for now and eat lunch…to appease his highness's black hole," Leaf added for humor. Ash sighed and sat down. They all pulled out granola bars and munched on it while just a little bit ahead of the path, there were sounds of digging going on.

"C'mon, you two; dig deeper!" Jessie yelled, "they'll be here any minute!"

"We're going, we're going," Meowth cried as he shoveled faster, throwing dirt into James's face.

"What the hell! Watch where you're throwing dirt, Meowth!"

"Just keep digging!" Jessie cried as she gathered branches and twigs.

"Okay that's deep enough. Get out before I trap you both in there." James and Meowth scrambled out of the "pit of doom" and helped Jessie cover the pit with a matte of branches and twig. They proceeded to cover that with leaves and then dirt to make it look like nothing was wrong with the path.

"Okay, knowing those two, they would need to come here to get out of the forest. The Visitor's Center is right down the path." Jessie concluded as they went to their hiding spot.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Meowth asked out of concern, "I mean, what if we set too many branches?"

"SHHHH!" Jessie hissed, "they're coming…"

Ash, Leaf, and Amber walked along hoping to get to the Visitors Center before 1:00. Amber mentioned they were making good time despite the slight break they took. All was well until Amber noted the ground shaking.

"Huh…the ground is shaking. Doesn't seem to feel like an earthquake though…"

"Maybe it's just a tre- WAAAAH!" Ash, Leaf, and Amber screamed as they fell into the pit, leaves and branches covering them.

"~cough cough~ Who's sick idea was this anyways?!" Leaf yelled. Then she heard snickering from the top of the pit, oddly sounding like the female Rocket from two days ago. 'Wait if that is her, then…' she checked around for her Jigglypuff, but was nowhere in the pit. "AW SHIT!" she screamed.

"Well well," Jessie taunted, "looks like the ones who ruined our mission are in our cleverly set trap. Now we have your pokemon. But anyways, let us reintroduce ourselves…"

"Prepare for trouble!"

"And make it double…"

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extent our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket: blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth, that's right!"

"Hey! Give us our pokemon back!" Ash cried.

"Really, Ash? You think they're really gonna give us our pokemon after we had taken them?" Leaf sarcastically asked.

"Well…no…"

"Thought so, but we still have pokemon to fight with right?"

"Hell yeah. There ain't no way in hell they're getting away with this. Not on my watch." Ash said as he jumped up, grabbing onto the ledge of the pit, and pulling himself up. Jessie and James looked at him in surprise, holding Pikachu and Jigglypuff.

"So thought I couldn't get out? You thought wrong; I wasn't on the track team for nothing, you know."

"And swim team has its perks," Leaf joined in.

"Damn it, you two! Why didn't you two dig deeper?!"

"We honestly didn't count on the fact that they were going to be ATHLETES!"

Ash wasted no time and got Bulbasaur out, with Squirtle and Doddy joining in. Jessie and James sent out their pokemon.

"Alright, you three," Jessie yelled, "prepare to eat shit! Ekans, Poison Sting!" Ekans barreled down on Bulbasaur, but missed its mark. Now, its head was stuck in the ground with the rest of its body slithering trying to get its head out.

"Bulbasaur, tackle Ekans." As he tackled Ekans, James gave his command.

"Koffing! Gas 'em!"

The area was filled with purple gas. Everyone was now coughing and on their knees.

"Damn it ~cough cough~ James! Not a- ~cough cough~ -gain!"

"Sorry! Sorry!"

"Amber! Get Doddy to run around!" Leaf yelled at Amber.

"You heard her, Doddy!" And Doddy ran as fast as he could around the perimeter. With the ostrich running at 60 miles per hour in a circle, that kicked up a mini tornado that threw the poison gas out of sight.

"Koffing! Tackle the bird!" Koffing looked quite confused as to where the bird was; it was just running too fast. Koffing tried to follow, but it quickly got dizzy and fainted. Ekans was still down after the devastating tackle delivered by an angry Bulbasaur. It seemed as Team Rocket was really out of options. They looked at each other and gulped. Pikachu, now fully aware of what was going on, hopped out of a frozen Jessie as well as Jigglypuff from a frozen James.

"Caterpie and Weedle! Tie'em up with string-shot!" Ash and Leaf cried. The two bugs came out of their pokeball and got right to work. Soon, there was a massive cocoon of silk containing the Rocket trio and their pokemon. Doddy and Pikachu knew what to do. Doddy delivered a kick to the cocoon and sent it flying high in the sky while Pikachu followed it up with a massive Thunderwave.

"Looks like Team Rocket is blasting off again!"

Ash and Leaf ran up to their pokemon to see if they were okay.

"Jiggly! Are you okay? Did they hurt you? What did they do to you? TELL ME?!" Leaf cried.

"And you give me shit for doing that?" Ash replied.

"AT LEAST I SHOW CONCERN FOR MY POKEMON! YOU WERE JUST BEING INSANE!"

"Heh, well all is better now that Team Rocket got their ass kicked again. Now, let's head on to Pewter, shall we."

"Oh, I sense your pokemon took some damage while in the forest. Let me help you with that," Amber spoke up. A blue glow surrounded her as well as the entire party of pokemon. Instantly, they all felt one hundred percent better. 'It's like she has some kind of healing power!' Ash thought as he mustered a "…whoa…"

"That's pretty freaky…and cool…" Leaf said, also looking bewildered.

"I was born with these telekinetic powers. It's why I was able to sense you both and why my family is considered the guardians of the forest. Mom can do it too, although Dad and Ricky can't…"

"Well it's just proof of the fact that girls are much better than boys!" Leaf said happily.

"And I don't see you having that awesome power," Ash deadpanned.

"Shut Up! I'm trying to make her feel good about herself!"

"It's already pretty cool to even be able to do that, let alone sense people. Don't need to boost her ego."

"Like yours doesn't need any more inflating before it bursts."

"Hey! That's Gary with the giant ego!"

"And yours is nearing that stage. Oh, there's the other Visitors Center!" They saw what appears to be an identical building to the one they saw yesterday. Ash and Leaf sighed in relief as all three walked through the door.

-_Viridian Forest North Visitors Center/Route 2_-

_1:00 PM_

"THANK GOD we're out of that forest. That was a living nightmare. I definitely don't wanna go through that again," Leaf said as she looked at Amber who was downcast.

"Awww I didn't mean it that way! I meant if I were to do it all over again, it would have to be with you!"

"No, it's okay. I'm just sad that you guys are leaving. It was nice spending time with you guys. I guess I'll leave you two to go on your journeys. I hope that I can be a trainer like you both so one day we'll be able to battle."

"Don't worry, Amber," Ash said, "I'm sure you'll be the best trainer yet, even better than me."

"Thanks! Well I guess I'll see you both sometime in the future!" Amber waved as Ash and Leaf passed through the front door, "Bye!"

"Bye! Be safe in the forest!" Ash and Leaf waved back, with Pikachu and Jigglypuff waving as well. Now all that stands between them and Pewter City was a winding path of route that winded its way back up the hill.

The route took more mountainous scenery as the outlines of the mountains loomed into view. It was a very pretty sight as the sunlight began to dip close to the peaks. The two trainers and their pokemon continued to walk at a brisk pace up and down the hill when they began to see a large city in what appears to be a bowl. Just as the sun touched the peak, they reached a gate with a sign that read "Welcome to Pewter City: City of Stone. Population: 396,554" all in grey lettering.

"Hey Ash," Leaf suddenly said.

"What's up?"

"What time is it?"

"Uhhh…5:00. Why?"

"So we made it in time! C'mon, let's walk into town and see the city and find the Pokemon Center!" Leaf happily cried as she pulled Ash by the arm down the street. He did not care at the moment, though, since he was just glad to finally be able to get a good rest and eat good food. He knew tomorrow, though, would be his first test of what he has accomplished as a Pokemon Trainer; he was set to battle the Pewter City Gym.

-_Viridian Forest South Visitor Center_-

"Mom! I'm back!" Amber shouted as she dismounted her Doddy and walked through the door.

"Hi dear," Elise greeted, "did they make it out okay?"

"Yeah, but there were these really weird guys called Team Rocket there that tried to steal their pokemon. But we defeated them rather easily."

"Team Rocket, you say," Elise said as if she remembered something, "by the way, you have a phone call from the Professor. I'll call him to say that you're available to talk."

"…okay…" Elise proceeded to call Professor Oak. "_This is Professor Oak speaking. May I ask who's calling?_" a voice rang from the other line.

"It's Elise. You called me earlier about an offer you have for my daughter."

"_Ah, yes. Amber, was it?_"

"Yes, she's right here if you want to talk to her. Here, Amber dear; the Professor wants a word with you." She handed the phone to Amber, who shyly spoke to the phone. "…um…'lo…"

"_Ah yes. Amber! My name is Professor Oak, and I have a proposition for you._"

"…okay…"

"_I will need to speak to you in person. When can you come to Pallet Town?_" Amber's eyes lit up like Christmas in July.

"Mom! When are we able to go to Pallet Town?"

* * *

**A/N: **Yes, a lot of characters were introduced in this chapter; let's see if you can match up who is who from what universe. Also, the reason this chapter was so long was to simulate being lost and time dragging on while you are still stuck. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please do not forget to review! Every criticism I get will help me become a better writer. So please, review. Thanks! :D


	6. Night at the Museum

**A/N: **My sincerest apologies for the delay in releasing this chapter; there were many things going on. Exams are around the corner, job interviews, family in town for the holidays. Too many things piled up. It also didn't help that I was experiencing major computer issues and had to get that sorted out. I'll be taking a break from writing to concentrate on finals. I'll be back to writing in mid-December, so don't expect an update until near Christmas time. Also, I want to start getting my other large-scale fic for the Persona series rolling, so updates will now be every three weeks to a month.

I want to give a sincere thanks to everyone who has reviewed, followed, and favorited this story so far. It means a lot since this is my first fic and I have really enjoyed putting it together.

* * *

**Chapter 6: Night at the Museum**

_October 4__th__, 2007 – 6:00PM_

Pewter City was certainly a lot bigger than where our heroes last were; it was almost twice the size of Viridian. The city was brighter, louder, and faster than its neighbor. As a matter of fact, the lights had almost blinded Ash and Leaf as they made their way into the city at sundown. Evening always came early in Pewter City; it was surrounded on three sides by the towering Silver Mountains. The city was virtually situated in a giant bowl. The entire populous was confined to this bowl, all 300,000 people. The freeway system here was small, the populous preferring street travel rather than highway travel. The buildings here were slightly taller and a bit more numerous. Perhaps the oddest thing that Ash and Leaf noticed was the stone grey motif that blanked the area. This was especially true on Pewter Street where we find Ash, Leaf, Jigglypuff, and Pikachu walking towards the Pewter City Pokemon Center.

Ash looked all around the street. Everything building and architecture is grey, almost like the city was made of stone. It immensely fascinated him to the point where he stopped every 50 feet to look around. There was little to no doubt that Leaf and the rest of the party were becoming more and more irritated as the stops frequently increased.

"Okay, Ash. We've stopped more than 6 times in a 1 mile stretch. You'd think that something would be different, but they are the SAME FRIGGIN COLOR! CAN WE HURRY UP ALREADY?! My feet are killing me." Pikachu and Jigglypuff nodded in affirmation as well. Ash, knowing how ridiculous he was going to sound, tried to reason with them anyways.

"But it's all grey! GREY BUILDINGS EVERYWHEREEE! DON'T YOU GET EXCITED ABOUT GREY BUILDINGS?!" Leaf slowly let out a sigh of exasperation. She decided they were going to get to the center by 6:30PM so they can check in, so she violently grabbed Ash by the right arm and literally dragged him to the cross street.

"I don't care if I'm dragging you all the way, but I will be damned if I don't find something to eat!" Leaf grunted as Ash's back dragged almost gracefully upon the concrete behind her. It was quite the sight, attracting many onlookers who began to whisper to each other.

"…dude, he's whipped…"

"…that girl is quite strong to have a guy that hot dragged behind her. Oh, he's so hot!"

"…I'm sure they're sleeping together and she wants him now, hehe…"

"…awww this is so cuteee! So coupleyyy…"

"…damn! I thought she was single! That's too bad…she could use a guy like me…"

"…that dress…"

"…that body…"

"…I need that body…"

Leaf just about had enough of the incessant whispering. She turned around, her face beyond boing point. "HEY! DON'T YOU ALL HAVE BETTER THINGS TO DO?! MIND YOUR OWN DAMNED BUSINESS!"

"…I like 'em feisty, hehehe…" This comment was followed by a hard slap to the left from Leaf, followed up with a _very_ hard punch to the right from Ash. He had formed a very deadly aura around him and looked down at the downed teen. Pikachu was attempting to hold back Jigglypuff, almost unsuccessfully.

"I don't care who you are but disrespecting women, especially my best friend, will land you in the hospital or worse," Ash slowly said. The teen looked up, and immediately cowered in fear. Having two insanely powerful teens giving you a deadly glare would strike fear into anyone. "And that goes for all of you." Ash added for effect, pointing towards the gathering crowd. "And no, we are not in a relationship." They all nodded and scurried away or went back to their business. Leaf looked up at Ash and suddenly hugged him.

"Thank you for that!" she said appreciatively, "I'm pretty sure I could have dealt with them myself, but having you there was a bigger plus." Ash looked at her perplexed.

"Wait…what happened to the 'I'm independent, so let me be' Leaf?"

"So you don't want to protect me?" Ash's eyes dilated in alarm.

"O-of course I do! It's just weird to see you flip 180 like that!" Leaf let out a slight chuckle. She grabbed his arm yet again, only this time softer and friendlier.

"C'mon! Let's get to the Pokemon Center and then explore the city. I've always wanted to explore a big city!"

"Wait…didn't you go to Celadon City before?"

"No…that was Gary who went."

"Oh…it's just thought you would've gone since there's a huge mall there. And I thought you go elsewhere for swim meets."

"Pssssh! I'm not a girly girl! And I only went to Cerulean twice and both were for the regional swim meet. We didn't get to explore the city at all!"

"Really? Your choice of dress says otherwise, hehe…" Ash snickered. Leaf gave him a sharp glare. Ash immediately regained his composure and steered the conversation back on topic.

"I guess I can't speak for myself; I've never left Pallet at all."

"Well you should get out more! NOW LET'S GO BEFORE I'M FORCED TO DRAG YOU ON THE STREET AGAIN!" Ash cowered, and then relented as he followed his pretty, aggressive, and temperamental best friend to the Pokemon Center with Pikachu and Jigglypuff in tow snickering.

'_Dude! The random guy was right…your master IS whipped!' _Jigglypuff snickered.

'_Heh, I know. I mean, I feel bad, but this is just too damn funny…hey, wanna see something funny?'_ Pikachu snickered back, holding a mischievous grin. He climbed onto Ash's leg and reached into his pocket. What he grabbed from said pocket was Ash's PokeGear. Ash felt something slip from his pocket. He felt through it and found his PokeGear missing.

"Hey…what the…my PokeGear is missing?" Leaf looked back and saw Ash fumbling with his pockets. "I'm sure I didn't take it out for the last 10 or so minutes.

"Let me call it," Leaf offered. She dialed and soon enough, they all heard it rang…from below. They both looked down and saw the culprits: two familiar pokemon with the yellow mouse holding the cell phone. As Leaf hung up, Pikachu's innocent smile morphed into a smirk. Holding the phone with both hands, he held it over his head and brought it down towards the ground. What surprised Ash and Leaf was the sound that followed: the sound of a loud, cracking whip. Ash stared blankly as the sound tried to register with recent events, conversations, observations, etc. Leaf had already picked this up at an instant and gave herself a facepalm. It took a few seconds for Ash to finally realize that the sound was directed towards him. His and Leaf's faces darkened and they scowled at the two pokemon; they were laughing away at their masters' reactions, his phone now in his hands. He started to speak slow and dark.

"I hope you guys can run fast enough, because you guys are in major trouble." Pikachu and Jigglypuff still smirked, glanced at each other, and bolted towards the Center. The two newly-enraged trainers gave chase, only to find out that their pokemon can indeed outrun them. They ran past buildings and cross streets until they reached a large plaza to the left with a five-story spherical structure at the center.

This Pokemon Hotel and Recovery Center was identical to the Viridian City Center, only dressed in a grey motif with a stone courtyard and driveway instead. Even the glass pokeball-shaped dome was in a grey tint. The complex also included shops that surround the main building; it was like a town center. Concession stands, trinket shops, restaurants, and boutiques litter the area. Ash, Leaf, Pikachu, and Jigglypuff were awed by the spectacle of the "Pokemon Town Centre", forgetting about their previous chase.

"Wow!" Leaf exclaimed, "I didn't know this would be a Pokemon Center! This is fancy!"

"LOOK AT ALL THE FOOD! IT'S EVERYWHEREEEEE!" Ash screamed throwing his hands in the air. They all rushed into the center to find the entire inside in, unsurprisingly, grey. It was shiny, with different kinds of stone and marble, but still grey. The basic layout remains the same on the inside: a lobby and reception area with a technology center to the left and a recovery center to the right, a cafeteria on the second floor (as an option to those who do not have the money to spend on the food outside…it is smaller than the typical cafeteria) with a lounging area, and rooms from the third to the fifth floor. Seeing no need to heal their party, Ash and Leaf rushed the reception desk.

"Good evening! How may I help you today?" the receptionist asked.

"We're just want to check out a room for our stay in Pewter City." The receptionist's eyes narrowed.

"…are you sure you don't want two rooms?"

"We're fine! Right Ash?" Leaf glanced at the poor trainer. He nodded quite furiously in response to get the message across, the receptionist still confused what the message was. She brushed it aside anyways.

"Very well then. Do you have your Trainer's Identification on you?" Ash and Leaf both took out their Pokedexes at the same time, starling the receptionist. She became even more confused.

"…I have never seen an ID issued this way before. Can you prove its validity?"

"Damn…we can't catch a break, can we…" Ash whispered while fishing his card out from his wallet.

"Nope…" Leaf agreed.

"Here you go. Two room keys. Your room is 305 which is up the left stairs and the corridor to the left. I hope you enjoy your stay here at the Pewter City Pokemon Hotel and Recovery Center!...and just so you know, we do implement a noise policy, heehee," but the two trainers where already out of hearing range. They hauled themselves up the stairs, past the cafeteria (much to Ash's disappointment), up another flight of stairs, and down the grey corridor until they reached the third door to the left. As they opened up the door, they stepped into an exact copy of the Viridan City Pokemon Center's boarding rooms. The walls, instead of clad grey, where white and the furniture a rather normal color.

"Well the rooms look normal…I was expecting to see a grey room with grey furniture, and a grey alarm clock," Ash mused. Leaf literally threw all of their bags to the center of the room and rushed back outside with Pikachu and Jigglypuff in tow.

"C'mon! I want to explore the city!" Leaf cried as she went back in and grabbed Ash by the arm.

"OKAY! OKAY! Wait…didn't our parents tell us to call them when we got to Viridian City?" Ash suddenly remembered. Leaf, upon realization, stared back him wide-eyed.

"SHIT! WHY DIDN'T YOU REMEMBER THAT EARLIER?!"

"HEY! YOU DIDN'T REMEMBER EITHER!"

"…yeah I guess you're right…let's call our parents before we go do anything…" They stepped back into the room and pulled out their cellphones, but hesitated to press the call button. The pokemon tilted their heads wondering what the holdup was. Leaf looked at Ash, expecting him to dial first.

"Hey…why are you stalling?" Leaf asked with a hint of nervousness.

"Why are YOU stalling?" Ash replied in kind and with the same amount of nervousness.

"…ummm…because…ummm…I don't like it when they're angry."

"…me neither…my mom really scares me when she's angry…"

"But we still need to let them know where we are."

"…okay…wanna go first?"

"…"

"…fine, I'll go first…" Ash proceeded to slowly dial the home phone. His brow was already lined with sweat. His heart began to pick up speed as the dial tone started. His slow, easy breaths turn into a quick, panicked hyperventilation.

…one ring…

…two rings…

…three rings…

-_The Ketchum Residence_-

_6:45PM_

Delia was busy cooking a rather large dinner for…herself…when the phone suddenly rang. She has not heard from her son in a week after he left. Her eyes had formed bags below and her strength began to decrease. She was losing sleep over her son's whereabouts. She always reassured herself that he would be just fine and nothing bad would happen, but just assuming was never enough for her. Glanced over to the phone next to the breakfast room desk and looked at the number. Every time the phone rang, she would stare intently at the LCD screen, hoping it was that one number, but usually being either her husband, or Miranda, or at worst…telemarketers.

The LCD screen blinked three times as the phone sang a rather poor rendition of a popular tune. Delia glanced down at the screen and looked at the number, with her eyes dilating as she recognized the number. It was not her husband, or Miranda; it was the person she want to hear back from the most. She quickly picked up the phone and pushed the answer button.

"Hello?" She slowly started.

"…um…hi mom…"

"OH MY GOD! ARE YOU OKAY?! DID YOU MAKE IT TO VIRIDIAN CITY?! IS LEAF AND GARY WITH YOU?! HOW COME YOU DIDN'T CALL EARLIER?!"

"…um okay…to answer your questions on order, yes we're okay, no we've past Viridian City and made it to Pewter City, Leaf is with me and Gary left on his own, and a lot of stuff happened on the way up."

"Oh…what happened? And did you just say Gary isn't with you?"

"It's a long story, but long story short on the way up to Viridian, we found some birds that really hate us; Leaf now hates birds. That was followed by a raid that happened at the Viridian Pokemon Center which Leaf, Gary, and I successfully stopped. That was followed by Gary's second loss to me which caused him to leave and travel by himself. Then we got lost in the Viridian Forest. Then we're here."

"Okay…well I'm glad you and Leaf are having fun! I'm still not a grandmother, right?"

"…MOM! OF COURSE NOT!"

"Well okay! I'm sure you have things you want to do so I'll let you go, hon. Please stay safe and out of trouble if you can. I know you're like your father who love to do the righteous thing, but stay safe. I love and miss you!...AND DON'T FORGET TO CHANGE YOUR UNDERWEAR!"

"GAH WHAT THE HELL MOM! I'm always changing it"

"HEY! WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE, YOUNG MAN!"

"…oh sorry, Mom! Well I love and miss you as well! Say hi to Dad for me!"

"Okay hon. Bye!" Delia hung up the phone. She ran through the conversation one more time and found something peculiar: Ash, Leaf, and Gary stopped a raid in Viridian City. She saw the news report on that a couple days ago and remembered that there were three heroes, but were unnamed and the belligerents being Team Rocket. They were described as two male trainers and a female trainer. She put two and two together and came to a realization: that was Ash, Leaf, and Gary the news was talking about. She quickly dialed her husband's cellphone with urgency.

"Hey Will…"

"Hi, dearest! Miss me already?" Will happily answered.

"Well, yes I do, but I need you to tell you something…"

"…what do you need to tell me?" Will replied, nervously.

"You know how on the news two days ago there was a raid in Viridian City involving Team Rockets and three trainers."

"Oh yeah…Matt's looking into that…"

"Well…the three trainers were Ash, Leaf, and Gary…"

"…what…"

"Yeah, your son just called me and told me they stopped a raid on the Viridian Pokemon Center."

"…go on…"

-_Back in Pewter City_-

_7:00PM_

After Leaf called her parents (the conversation pretty much the same tone and route as Ash's conversation), the duo and their pokemon waited at the curb for a taxi to take them to the Pewter City Museum of Science and Natural History, or the Pewter City Museum for short. Leaf had read about it in the brochure Elise gave her back at the Viridian Forest. Supposedly, the museum was dedicated to the geological history of Kanto and fossils of prehistoric pokemon as well as the general sciences. Within five minutes of waiting at the curb, a grey taxi with yellow lights on the roof pulled up and the two trainers got into the car. The driver had a rather strange, thick accent from not around Kanto; in fact, his rather dark skin color and turban confirmed that.

"Good evening! Where are we headed to?"

"Pewter City Museum!" Leaf shouted. Ash had to cover his ears.

"Yes, mam! I'll get you there in no time!" They sped down Granite Avenue to Pewter Street, where they turned left towards the center of town. The buildings became taller and more crowded and the lights became brighter. There were massive amounts of people going about their nightlife from dinner, to clubs, shopping, and even going home. About a mile down the street, a grand building of classical stone architecture slowly took on its form, ever growing larger as the cab drew nearer. The pillars that made up the majestic façade stood at attention, supporting the mighty roof. The detailed artwork on the building can be seen from afar, etches of Kanto's history carved into a wide band that wraped the sides. The cab took another left at the corner and pulled up to the driveway.

"That will be ¥600." Ash decided to be the gentleman and pay the cab fare with a ¥150 tip. "Thank you very much! I hope you two enjoy your tour!" the cab driver waved, signaling his leave. Ash and Leaf looked up at the grand entrance, their jaws slacked; they have never seen anything as majestic and cool as the building before them. They made their way through the double doors and straight to the ticketing center to the left of the entrance. The main hall of the museum was covered from ceiling to floor with either grey or white marble. Statues of pokemon lined the sides and there was a nice fountain in the center. Although the museum was partially funded by the city, it was owned and ran by the famous Harrison family. Ash and Leaf looked at the prices for each of the exhibits. They included the main exhibit, the science exhibit, the butterfly garden, the planetarium, an aquarium, and the featured exhibit of the Moon Stone.

"Hmmmm…" Ash pondered, "so for the regular exhibit, it's ¥1000. All of the add-on exhibits were another ¥1500 each, and the Moon Stone Exhibit is ¥2500?! Looks like we're going for the regular tour. Two tickets for the basic exhibit, please!"

"Hey! I can pay for my own!" Leaf yelled just as Ash gave the receptionist his debit card.

"Nah, it wouldn't be gentlemanly of me to let you do that," Ash calmly responded with a satisfactory smile, "everyone knows one of the manly things to do is pay for the girl."

"I want to be independent!"

"HAHA! Okay, you can get dinner then." Then, it dawned on Leaf that dinner was going to be rather…expensive.

'Ah shit! I'm usually the one pulling the money game…' The two grabbed their tickets and made their way to the exhibit entrance when Leaf ran into someone, specifically a tall, dark-skinned young man with what seems to be slits for eyes donned in a lab coat. It appears he had just walked up the stairs.

"Oh sorry!" Leaf said rather quickly, attempting to dust off any dirt that may have gotten on to the young man's coat. He looked at the two and just smiled.

"No, it's alright. No harm done. Say, are you going to tour the exhibit?"

"Yeah," Ash replied, "we're touring the city during our stay in Pewter. Our main reason for being here is for us to earn our first gym badges at the Pewter City Gym." The young man's eye brows twitched. This went unnoticed by the two.

"Ah…well I was just about to get off work. I'll give you both a tour of the exhibits. You don't mind, right?"

"Oh, of course not! By the way, what is your name?"

"Oh! My bad," the young man scratching his head, "my name is Brock Harrison. What are you two's names?"

"Ash Ketchum"

"And Lily Greenway, but most people call me Leaf"

"And we're from Pallet Town."

"Well okay then! Let's begin the tour!" And the tour went on for the next hour with Brock doing most of the talking. The exhibit itself was situated in three floors and over 200,000 square feet of space. In the center was a large to scale model of a dragonite, with an assortment of models of flying pokemon strung up to the ceiling. They covered everything from the beginnings of Kanto, to the evolution of pokemon, saw several skeletons and models of ancient pokemon, some theories of further evolution, some geological history, and capping it off with the three legendary birds of myth. Ash and Leaf were fed so much information that they had just about dropped to the ground by the time Brock had led them out of the exhibit back into the main hall.

"Well," Ash panted, "I think I have knowledge overflow; I can't take in any new information or my head will explode."

"Quit acting like a drama queen!" Leaf snapped. Ash just sighed in response. "Thank you so much for the guided tour, Brock! I guess Ash and I are going to find somewhere to eat in town. Where do you think is the best place to go?"

"Well," Brock mused, "the Museum District isn't known for its wide food selection. So I suggest looking in Downtown for that; they have a lot of interesting selections on 6th Street and Western Avenue."

"Thanks!" Ash and Leaf responded. Brock thought it through a little more and heard his stomach rumbling.

"Heh, what dah yah know; I guess I'm a bit hungry, too. Dad's off today so he knows I won't be coming home for a while. I'll go ahead and eat with you guys."

"Sounds great! Now you get to pick the restaurant since we don't know the area at all," Ash suggested thinking it was a good idea to have a person from the city pick the best place.

"Well if you put it that way, I believe we can eat at this ramen place exclusive to Pewter. It's at 7th and Pewter Street. C'mon, I'll take you guys there!" Brock said as they followed him to the parking structure to the right of the building. They walked through the first floor and found Brock waiting at his car: a 2007 Acura TL Type S in white. Ash stared wide-eyed at the shimmering car as it basks in the…garage light.

"DUDE! THAT IS MY TOTAL DREAM CAR!" Ash exclaimed as Leaf scoffed right next to him.

"She's a beauty, isn't she? Now who wants shotgun?" Ash waved his hand wildly.

"OOOO! Pick me!"

"Haha sure thing! Let's go! I'm getting hungry." They sped down the main drag to the center of town where they found a particularly modern street with shops and eateries below the apartments above. The five ended up in front of a small restaurant that had the name "Stone Bowl Den". Brock looked at the restaurant rather confused.

"Huh…I would've though there would be a line, but I guess not tonight. Today's our lucky day!"

"How come?" Leaf asked.

"Well usually, the place is so packed that the line would wrap around the corner. The wait would be at least 30 minutes to an hour, all for some ramen. I guess not many people wanted to eat ramen today. It should only be a five to ten minute wait." Brock wrote his name down (with the number 5 in parenthesis) and sat down on the bench next to the door. Ash glanced at the paper and saw their name three groups down from the last group crossed out. People slowly filtered out of the shop as the party ahead of them moved in. As the door opened, aromas of soup and noodles with various spices and flavor filled the night air. This tsunami of smell hit Ash like a magnitude 9 earthquake off the coast of Kanto; he was overtaken by the deliciousness and savory of the scent. He began to act a little more…cranky...as a result.

"Oh c'mon…let us in already! I WANT SOME RAMEN!" Leaf slapped him upside the head. "YOW!"

"Calm down! We're the next to go in!" Sure enough, a middle-aged lady with jet-black hair dressed came out to cross out the name above Brock's. She looked at him in a rather motherly manner.

"Ah Brock! How nice of you to eat here! How is the research going?"

"Hey, Nancy! It's going…well…" he responded with hesitation and with a hint of resentment, "how's the ramen today?"

"It's cooking like always. Are these your friends?"

"I actually showed them around the museum this evening on my way out. They were looking for something to eat Pewter specific."

"Well you guys came to the right place. Follow me!" The party followed the lady inside.

-_Pewter City Museum_-

As the last guests left, the lone researcher closed up the main doors, locked up everything, and shut the lights off. He did not bother to check the skylight since no one has opened it in forever. What he did not notice was two guests hiding out in one of the exhibits. They were armed with walkie-talkies and various gadgets. Once they heard the doors lock, they communicated with the other party.

"CatOne…are we ago for Operation Ancient Power, over?" a male voice stated.

"CatOne's got the rope all prepared with the escape route cleared. Mission is ago, over," a higher voice responded, with a strange Unovian accent.

"CatOne, begin the decent to the lab and stealth procedures. This place is crawling with trip lasers, over," a female voice came through.

"10-4, over and out."

-_Downtown Pewter City_-

While the restaurant looked very plain-Jane on the outside, the inside was a different story. The atmosphere was very modern, with geometric-style furniture. The ornaments and lamps that hung from the ceiling took shape of various crystals and diamonds. In other words, it was totally different from the outside. The area was a tad bit small with booths lining the sides and a long center table to seat guests. An open kitchen can be seen at the back with steam pouring over the glass barriers. The clientele was generally seen as young adults with friends, couples, and just having a good time, sake everywhere. The lady sat them in a booth to the left at the center of the room.

"Here you all are. A waitress will be with you in just a moment."

"Thank you," they all said, taking a glance at their menus in the process. They glanced down the menu to find an assortment of ramen with the backside filled with skewers and other small appetizers. Ash's eyes scrolled up and down the page at what seemed to be faster than light; so fast to the point where his pupils all but disappeared. Leaf already found her bowl: the Spicy Miso, while Brock when a little more experimental and wanted Tonkotsu Ramen. Ash still looked rather indecisive on what to choose, so Leaf decided to intervene before his eyes pop out of their sockets.

"Here, go with the Garlic Ramen."

"Okay! SOLD! Now let's get me a teriyaki beef skewer!" Just as Ash said that, person beside them was clearing their throat, clearly asking for attention. Brock looked over to find a young woman in all black attire, a kerchief, a slender figure, rather well developed assets, and aqua blue hair in a bob cut. Brock's eyes transformed into…massively shaped hearts.

"Hi! Sorry for the wait. My name is Susan and I'll be your waitress. What you like to dri-" Brock suddenly gushed at the waitress.

"Oh don't worry, my lady…your tardiness is always welcome. No one can attain the state of anger and resentment at such a beauty like yourself…" he trailed off as he got lost in his own world. The waitress just stared in wide-eyed confusion and turned to the two trainers. The three stared at each other for a minute. Leaf was the first to break the silence at the table.

"…we don't know him…"

"…we actually just met him today…" Ash followed up. The waitress laughed at them.

"Haha! Well what would you all like to drink?"

"We'll all take waters. Thanks," Leaf requested, "we're also ready to order."

"Okay! What will we be having?" the waitress asks. Brock was still in his love-blind stupor, gazing at the waitress in front of him. Leaf reached over and slapped him…hard.

"HEY, CASANOVA! WAITRESS WANTS YOU TO ORDER SOMETHING!" As quickly as he went into his stupor, he snapped out of it. She took out a PokeSlate to take their orders.

"Oh…um what are we doing?" he asked looking at the waitress.

"What would you like to order?"

"I'll take the Tonkotsu Ramen and an order of the Pandan Doughnuts," Brock requested.

"I'll have this garlic one right here and a Teriyaki Skewer," Ash also requested.

"And I'll just have the Spicy Miso," Leaf finished out.

"Okay! I'll have your orders right out." She proceeded to the orders of other tables. Ash and Leaf stared at Brock for a moment to take in what had transpired while the kind waitress was taking their orders.

"Okay, dude," Ash started, "what the hell was that?"

"What the hell was what?" Brock answered genuinely confused.

"The whole Casanova shit you pulled with our waitress. It's weird, dude."

"I did what?" Leaf also looked confused as Brock continued to question his supposed actions.

"Wait…you don't remember acting like a total dweeb?"

"…no I don't…damn, that's probably the 20th time people have told me that."

"I mean that was strange, but the fact that you don't remember doing that is even stranger…" Ash thought. Leaf decided it was time to change the subject as Brock started to look rather uncomfortable.

"Anyways…what do you do at the museum?" Brock's ears piqued right back up.

"Well, since you asked, I'm one of the part-time researchers of pokemon fossils. I specialize in the kabuto and kabutops family of pokemon. There are two others which are being studied right now. It's not what I really wanted to do though. Sadly, I'm expected to become a researcher like Mom and Dad. Mom is usually out doing field work on ancient water pokemon while Dad likes to do ancient rock pokemon. I usually help Dad out around the house when Mom's not around. She comes home from time to time, but most of the time, she's out there studying and finding new discoveries. What I really wanted to become was a Pokemon Breeder. I mean I don't mind studying ancient pokemon, I just really want to care for all pokemon in general.

"Dad's always lit up when he finds me researching. He thinks I'll be the next greatest thing in Pokemon Archeology and even wants me to work with another archaeologist who lives in Johto. I don't know if I want to take that up. Well that's my story."

"Wow," was all that Leaf could say, "so wait…if you only work part-time, then what is your other job?"

"That, Leaf, is what I don't tell people as not to draw too much attention."

"So are you, like, a secret agent or somethin'?" Ash asked out of curiosity.

"No."

"A secret member of the Mafia?"

"No."

"How about a corporate mercenary who goes into people's minds and extract crucial information to bring that corporation down?" Leaf facepalmed herself.

"What the hell? Definitely no…but a good movie, though. I'm one of Pewter City's two gym leaders." Ash and Leaf gasped. They stared at him for the longest time as if he head of a unicorn. The waitress walked up to the table with a tray of plates and bowls, bearing witness to the ensuing staring contest.

"Ahem," she announced. The party regained composure and looked at the food on the tray. She sat each of the bowls and skewers in front of their respective customer (Pikachu and Jigglypuff getting smaller bowls of the same thing as their masters; no skewers), as well as a tab, crossing every item out that was brought out. Everyone, including Pikachu and Jigglypuff, looked into the bowls taking a whiff of the savory aroma. Ash could not hold back anymore; he and Pikachu dove right into their bowls. Leaf and Brock slowly attacked their bowls in a more civilized manner. In no time at all, everyone had cleaned their bowls.

"Ahhh…that was a good bowl," Brock said happily, "don't worry about the bill, guys; I got this one."

"Okay, more power to yah," Ash stated. He then looked at Leaf. "You're still getting the next dinner."

"I know, I know," Leaf pouted. The waitress came back again to collect the check and promptly returned.

"Thank you for eating with us, please come back again!" she waved as Ash, Leaf, and Brock got up to leave. Just as they opened the door to go back to Brock's car, Ash and Leaf walked into someone, someone _very_ familiar.

"ACK! Watch where you're going, pu- oh, 'sup you two?" the victim spoke.

"Oh! Hey cousin," greeted Leaf in her usual cheery mood, "what brings you to Pewter. And how did you like the Viridian Forest?"

"The same reason why you two are probably here. And got through it with a cinch; I bet you two didn't have flying pokemon, did yah?!" Gary sneered. Ash grunted in response.

"Oh and by the way, I'm challenging the Pewter Gym tomorrow and I know I can beat him. You'll probably lose, right?" Ash let out an even louder grunt. Leaf just about had enough.

"Okay, you two. Can't we get along for once?"

"Not until I know I can beat him! Until then, he is my undisputed rival." Brock was still wondering what was going on with this interaction. He did not have time to complete the thought, however, as his phone started to blare.

"What the…the museum's alarms went off. C'MON, YOU TWO! WE HAVE TO HURRY!"

"Hey!" Gary yelled, "I'm coming along, too."

"Fine by me; we need as many people who can stop the intruders. Let's move it!" The all rushed to Brock's parked car. Gary had one thought in mind though, 'Heh, Acuras…shame you didn't get an Infiniti.'

Brock floored it down Pewter Street and back to the museum's driveway. When they got into the building, they noticed all of the alarms blaring and a rope that led up to the open skylight. Gary took out Pidgey, hovering in mid-air.

"Pidgey, go up to the roof and see what you can find." Pidgey nodded and flew up to the hole and looked around. He flew back down and reported its finding. Gary, understanding Pidgey's flight patterns of a drawing of a Meowth balloon, concluded one thing… "Team Rocket is here." Ash and Leaf cursed under their breath.

"Damn it!" Ash said. Also from Pidgey's flight sketch, they were able to determine that they were already in the basement and someone knew the insides of the building very well.

"Let's head to the basement…we'll see what's happening. They'll have to go through 5 barricades before they get to the lab."

"Got it!" they all replied. They quickly made their way down the flight of stairs and to the first metal barrier: a large door with a keypad on it. Brock typed in a series of numbers and the locks opened. He shoved the metal door aside and stormed his way down the hallway. They plowed through the next four doors within 2 minutes until they got to a dark corridor at the end. Brock stopped for a minute and turned around to the others

"So here's what's at stake: there is a very rare fossil in there called the Amber Stone. If that gets resurrected, we're all fucking screwed. We need to move NOW!" Brock set off and quickened the pace to a full sprint. They all got to the end of the hallway where it opened up to a very large, white room. Ash, Leaf, and Gary found massive robots and machines, each with various stones and fossils…well supposed to be containing various fossils. They found a rope to an air duct that was open from the bottom. Brock cursed himself again.

"Damn it! I should've known they would do that! They're probably at the roof by now. Let's hurry!" They all made their way back up the long, winding corridor and back up the stairs to the entrance where they see the rope moving. Their eyes trailed upwards as they see three figures climbing up the rope: a male with violet air, a meowth, and a female with magenta hair. All were wearing dark jumpsuits with a dark red "R" and a beanie.

"HEY!" Brock yelled, "what the fuck do you think you're doing with those fossils?! You can't take them!" The trio stopped their ascent and looked downwards. The female gave a rather evil, haughty laugh.

"What do you mean 'what are we doing'? It's obvious we're taking your fossils. These would be so delightful for the boss that he'll have to forgive us. Oh and yes we can take them because we don't give a shit," Jessie smoothly said as the other two moved the sack of fossils upwards. No one noticed a member of their group was missing. Ash continued to stare at them with Pikachu getting charged up and Bulbasaur and Weedle taking attack positions. Jigglypuff, Squirtle, and Caterpie all stared down the trio. But where was Gary?

Gary stood outside the museum and had Pidgey armed with a pokeball. "Okay, listen up. I need you, Pidgey, to go up to the roof where the balloon is. Drop Charmander down and he'll burn the rope when I say so. Got it?" Pidgey and Charmander (from inside the ball) nodded. Pidgey grabbed onto the ball and made his way up the building to the room where the balloon was. There, he saw an open skylight and a rope attached to one of the railings, with a net sack full of fossils next to the skylight. He dropped the ball onto the pavement and waited for Charmander to finish prepping. Using his newly learned Ember, he looked over the hole to see Team Rocket staring down at the others. He let out a call.

James looked up where he thought he heard a charmander, his head busy spinning back and forth trying to find him. A ways up at the hole, he saw a small figure with a round head. Glancing at it, he could only think one thing, "Ummmm…if I'm not mistaken…that's a charmander…and it doesn't look happy." Meowth looked up as well.

"Hey, yah little twerp! Get outta here so we can finish our business!" Charmander only replied with a sinister grin, scaring James and Meowth.

"Oh crap…I think he's gonna do it…" Charmander opened its mouth and gathered some flames.

"H-He's really gonna do it," Meowth quivered.

"Why are you guys stalling? Wha- oh my…" Jessie slowly said as Charmander released a flame ball at the rope. It slowly burned away the twine that held it together, slacking the rope bit by bit. James and Meowth slowly began to panic as the rope sagged even lower.

"Oh crap! Oh Crap! We're gonna fall!" they both started to scream as Jessie held an indifferent face.

"No shit…we're about 25 feet in the air. The fall's not going to kill us. The first bag's up on the roof anyways, right?"

"Oh yeah…" Just then, the rope snapped in two sending the three careening to their…well they landed on their two feet, Meowth holding onto the sack. Just then, Gary ran back inside with Pidgey and Charmander, with new arrival Eevee bringing up the rear.

"WHOAA. WHAT POKEMON IS THAT?!" Ash exclaimed at the puppy-like creature. He quickly pulled out Dexter whom already had the information. "Eevee, the evolution pokemon. Its genetic code is irregular. It may mutate if it is exposed to radiation from element stones. Its known attacks are Tackle, Tail Whip, Helping Hand, and Sand-Attack."

"Whoaa cool!" Ash exclaimed again. Leaf punched him on the shoulders to pop him out of dreamland.

"Okay, Ash. I understand your fascination with new pokemon, but I think we need to concentrate on the three douche bags running up the stairs over there," Leaf pointed out as the heard frantic shuffling from the stairway at the back of the main hall. Brock turned around and saw Team Rocket flying up the stairs and into one of the exhibits.

"Shit! They just went into the Planetarium! We gotta hurry," Brock yelled. He and the trainers bolted towards the staircase with their pokemon following suit. They ran through scaled models of planets, astronauts, the moon, space vehicles, and anything else space-related until they got to another stairwell and more space stuff on the third floor. Team Rocket knew where the emergency exit was, so they threw the metal door open and dashed up the steep flight of stairs. By this time, they began to run low on energy and slowed down a bit. Unfortunately for the good guys, this was also the same issue. Soon, the flight of stairs ended at another door which led to the night sky above. They set their sights on their balloon in hopes of starting it by the time the good guys could reach them.

"Quickly! Get the sacks in the basket!" Jessie yelled as she picked up the sack near the skylight. By the time they got to the basket, they heard a slash and a tear. Fearing the worst, they looked up at their balloon to find a large gash in the canvas. On other side, Charmander was evilly grinning. He charged up an ember, ready to fire until James did some quick thinking.

"Koffing! Smoke this place up!" In an instant, the purple gas ball appeared and released a dark gas, filling the entire roof with smoke. Charmander was now blind and fired away, hoping to not hit any of his allies. Luckily, a scream was heard from Meowth. Ash and Leaf took this as a cue to fire in that direction. Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Pikachu let out Bubbles, Leech Seeds, and a massive Thundershock towards the balloon. They all managed to hit roughly at the same time dowsing Jessie, James, and Meowth while also electrocuting them and wrapping them in vines.

"CRAP!" they all said in unison, while Gary released Pidgey to clear the smoke. What they saw was the Team Rocket Trio in vines, soaked, and burned inside their balloon (Koffing was down due to the blast), the sacks of fossils still outside of the basket. Brock took this chance to retrieve the sacks and ran back down the stairs.

"DAMN IT!" Jessie screamed, "WE WERE SO FUCKING CLOSE AND YOU ALL HAD TO RUIN EVERYTHING! Ekans! Go!" The snake appeared and slithered towards Pikachu. He let out a cynical laugh and let out a Thunderwave, stopping the snake dead in its tracks. Jigglypuff then punched the snake back into the basket where the others were. Caterpie and Weedle tag-teamed a double String Shot to further immobilize Team Rocket. They were done for and they were waiting what was coming for them. Pikachu, Charmander, and Squirtle lined up. Ash looked at Leaf and Gary.

"Yall two ready for this?"

"Hell yeah!" Leaf cried.

"Some ass kicking is in order for these dick-wads," Gary muttered.

"Thundershock"

"Bubble!"

"Ember!" All three attacks were released simultaneously and hit the balloon, sending it flying into the night sky over the looming Silver Mountains.

"Team Rocket's blasting off again!" they cried as they spun out of control, reduced to a single white spec in the night sky. Where they landed, no one knows…

After the attempted robbery was dealt with, the three trainers and their pokemon met up with Brock in the lobby, who was carrying three fossils.

"I just want to thank all of you for helping stop those assholes. I think our entire collection would be in trouble if it weren't for you guys. As a sincere token of thanks, please accept these three fossils. There is an Amber Stone, a Helix Fossil, and a Dome Fossil. Ladies first." Leaf reach out to choose.

'Hmmm…the spiral one looks really pretty. I'll take that one.' She grabbed the spiral-shaped fossil.

"You can go next since I went the first time," Gary uncharacteristically offered. Ash looked at him puzzled.

"Wait, so you're not gonna be a dick and go ahead and snatch the one that I want?"

"Dude…I'm too tired for this. I don't even know what you want; they're just rocks, right?" Brock's eye twitched.

"By the way," Brock suddenly said, "if you take these 'rocks' to Cinnabar Island, you can resurrect these rocks into ancient pokemon. Just in case if you forgot my rant earlier before the chase."

"…ohhhh…" Ash and Gary said at the same time. Ash went up to grab his fossil. For some reason, he knew which one he wanted to pick, but could not figure out for the life of him why. He grabbed the Amber Stone. Gary was left with the Domed Fossil, he sighs in response.

"Figures."

"Well, I'm assuming you all are staying at the Pokemon Center. I'll drive you all back so you can get some rest. I mean, you all have gym battles tomorrow, right?" They all nodded.

"Well let's get you three back to the Pokemon Center and call it a night." They all hopped into Brock's car and drove back to the Pokemon Center. The streets were nearly empty at this hour and the moon's light broke through the clouds. It was a cool night and the city's lights started to dim to just the street lights. As the car pulled up to the Pokemon Center driveway, the teens stepped out of the car and into the entrance. Brock waved them good night.

"Well, I guess good luck with your gym battles tomorrow; you'll need it. I know you'll definitely need it," Brock said as he winked. Gary looked at him suspiciously. The car then pulled back out on to the street and into the night, leaving the teens standing idly outside the building.

"I guess this is the part where we go to bed; we've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow," Ash yawned as he headed straight for the hotel. Leaf and Gary followed suit with Gary taking the right escalator and Ash and Leaf taking the left one. They both got to their room and jumped onto the bed face first.

"Geez, what an evening," Ash said through his pillow. Pikachu muttered in agreement.

"You said it," Leaf agreed, "it seems we run into trouble everywhere we go. Well let's get some sleep; we've got gym battles to win tomorrow."

"Yeah, if you wake up in time," Ash snickered.

"Well, I now have a personal alarm clock for that," she glared at Jigglypuff, who was snickering.

"Well…good night! Don't let the bed bugs bite!" Ash said as he got up to turn off the lights. Caterpie and Weedle snickered at that joke from inside their balls. He crashed face-first into the bed again. Leaf turned over looked at him for a minute in the dark, watching his sleeping form.

"Yeah…good night and sweet dreams, best friend," Leaf whispered, mostly to herself. At the end of the day, no one bothered to get ready for bed; they were just too exhausted and too busy worrying about their first test as a Pokemon Trainers. Tomorrow will be the day that will make it, or break it, for the three heroes of Pallet Town.

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**A/N:** This chapter and the next chapter was supposed to be a single chapter, but then that would've put too many events in a single chapter and the word count would be near the 20,000 word range. As a result, sorry if this chapter was a bit stale without much action. The next chapter will be full of badassery.

Please don't for get to review...and follow and favorite if you want. I will see you all back in mid-December! :D


	7. Battle for the Boulder

**A/N: **I know this chapter was supposed to be released two days ago, but family and work stuff popped up at the last minute and I had to throw this on the back burner. It also did not help that this chapter went way beyond my expectations in content. I hope you all enjoy this battle-oriented chapter. This was definitely the most difficult chapter to write.

* * *

**Chapter 7: Battle for the Boulder**

_October 5__th__, 2007 – 6:00 AM_

_-The Harrison Residence-_

He lived in a large house in a quiet neighborhood, but his house was anything but quiet. He appreciated the fact that he had brothers and sisters, but never in his wildest imaginations did he manage to have nine of them. It made him wonder what his parents do on their spare time whenever his mother was home. He only shuddered at the thought, not to mention it was his first thought upon awaking from his precious slumber. He turned over to his side to shut off the three blaring alarm clocks he set up to make sure he was fully out of bed.

The sky glowed a deep blue to the east while the west was still black as night. Brock had large bay windows overlooking his garden of various rock pokemon. He cared for them as much as he cared for his siblings. They were still sound asleep, appearing like normal rocks. Letting loose a rather loud yawn, he stretched his long arms into the air, almost touching the ceiling. He stood a massive 6'3", with his arms giving him another 3' of stretch.

'What to do…I need to wake the kids up for them to go to school…' He made his way to the intercom down the hall and pressed a large red button. It was the same routine every day. Alarm clocks blared from each of the rooms in the hallway with groans of displeasure following it. All of the rooms' lights went on and slow, sluggish shuffling can be heard. Brock made his way to the bathroom at his end of the hall to get ready before the other kids get a chance to hog it.

It was 15 minutes later we find him in the kitchen laboring away with breakfast. He knew his dad had an early start at the lab, so he spent the morning preparing a large breakfast for himself and his siblings. After 45 minutes of preparations, there were 10 plates of eggs, bacon, and toast. He sat them all down in the dining room with a long table in the center. The silverware was of high-grade platinum and the dishes were of china found in the mountains just north of the city. They were a very well-off family in Pewter City.

Brock came across a note on the counter, most likely written by his father. He picked up a note, and was rather dismayed at its content:

_Brock,_

_I have a lot of research I didn't get done last night and it may take a couple days to catch up. I need you to run the gym today and tomorrow for me. Sorry I had to spring this on you. Take care of the gym for me._

_Dad_

He let out a short huff in exasperation. He was not supposed to be at the gym until 9 AM, so he had some time to care for his garden of pokemon. It was his life-long dream to become a Pokemon Breeder, but he was stuck here looking after the gym and following in his parents' footsteps to become a Pokemon Archaeologist. He even took two years of classes at Pewter City College in preparation for the role. It also did not help that his family ran the Pewter City Gym for generations, displaying their love of rock pokemon. He needed to get out of this city if he wanted to remain sane. He was at the top of his limit. He let out a long sigh before dropping off his siblings to school and making his way to the gym where he awaited challengers. He was expecting at least three today.

-_Pewter City Pokemon Center_-

_10:00 AM_

A yellow mouse woke up from his peaceful slumber to a sleeping trainer that lie next to him, snoring away. He checked his surroundings and saw the alarm clock, which no one had set due to the events of last night. He figured if it was this late in the morning, he would have to wake him up fast if he wanted to battle in time. Pikachu began shaking his master aggressively.

"_Hey, Ash! ASH! ASHHH!"_

"Huh?...what?" Ash groggily said, as he slowly awoke from his rather questionably appropriate dream. He also checked his surroundings and looked at the clock. He yelped in surprise at how late it was.

"Oh crap! There may be a line at the gym! WE WONT'T MAKE IT IN TIME! LEAF! WAKE UP!"

Leaf, however, did not wake up, let alone moved an inch. Jigglypuff, however, heard loud and clear and saluted Ash, who was now in full panic mode. He hurried into the shower while Jigglypuff started to beat the living crap out of her master. Leaf, in sudden pain, shot up at Jigglypuff, giving her the full on glare with Jigglypuff smirking back. She pointed over to the clock, which now read 10:15 AM.

'SHIT! We overslept! We forgot to set the alarm clock last night!' She threw herself off the bed and headed towards the bathroom door. She could hear the shower stop, but she did not care. She threw open the door, which Ash did not lock since he was in too much of a hurry to care, and ran into Ash who was just getting out of the shower with a towel.

"Hey, what the?!" Ash screamed as Leaf began grabbing a toothbrush.

"Dude, we're both in a hurry and I'm not giving a damn about anything right now. I'm going to shower."

"Wait! At least let me get out first!" It was too late. Leaf threw off her clothes, seemingly onto Ash, and hopped in the shower…all within about 3 seconds. Ash froze for a second to count what was on him.

'Hooookay…there are a pair of socks thrown at my midsection that landed on the floor, her dress draped over my left shoulder, her panty on my right shoulder…great…, and that leaves…oh hell…' Draped over his head and down his face…was Leaf's bra. He blushed rather intensely and threw them and the rest of the clothing off. He ran back out to the room with his outfit and changed rather quickly, slamming the door behind him. Pikachu and Jigglypuff were found outside rolling on the floor, laughing their guts out. Ash straightened his hat and glared at the two.

"…shut up…"

He gathered up his belongings, threw them on the bed, and waited patiently for Leaf to finish. She threw the door open, dressed in her little black dress, white gloves, and white fedora and shoved the rest of her belongings into the bag.

"Well, are we going or not?!" Leaf shouted from the door.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go grab a quick breakfast and get to the gym." They both made it to the cafeteria and wolfed down and entire plate of eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, and toast in less than three minutes, busting out the front lobby right afterwards running towards downtown.

Fridays were always busy days in Pewter City; there were more people out today to start their weekend early whether it was shopping, eating overpriced brunches, weekly meetings, and so on and so forth. This made traffic problems much worse and an influx of crowds. It did not help Ash, Leaf, Pikachu, and Jigglypuff at all. They were shoved forwards, backwards, and side to side attempting to shove their way out of the crowds. It was absolute mayhem. Leaf grabbed Ash's hand and pulled him along with an iron grip.

"OW! What the hell?!" Ash yelled.

"Hey! Do we want to get their together or not? PokeMaps said it was at the corner of Pewter Avenue and Marion Boulevard. It shouldn't be too long from here…maybe another half a mile. Man this crowd sure is thick. Don't wanna lose each other, right?"

"Right! Now let's press onward!" They eventually got to the corner and stared at the enormous stone building. It looked like the building was carved from a giant piece of stone that was dropped in the middle of the city. The giant lettering appearing atop the double doors read "Pewter City Pokemon Gym and Training Center". They made their way across the wide street and through the double doors where to their surprise, there was no line. In fact, it was nearly empty. A massive hall, similar to the museum, greeted the trainers with the reception desk in the middle. Ash walked up to the desk and made eye contact with the woman behind it.

"Uh…hi. We're here to challenge the Pewter City Gym..." he began nervously. The lady kindly smiled back at him and looked him straight in the eye.

"Very well," she calmly said throwing Ash's heart in a tremble, "I will need to see your Trainer's ID to see if you are registered with the Pokemon League. Only registered trainers are allowed to participate in Gym Leader Battles." Ash and Leaf pulled out their pokedexes and opened the information section. The receptionist seemingly knew what was going on and gladly accepted them.

"Now, you all are familiar with the rules of Gym battles, am I correct?" Ash and Leaf nodded in response.

"Good, now just to review, take these pamphlets and make sure you understand the rules and regulations of these special battles. The viewing area is in the arena behind the door to your right. Leaf, your battle is at 12:00 PM and Ash, your battle is at 1:30 PM. Please schedule your day accordingly."

"Thanks," they both said as they made their way through the steel door to the right of the desk. There was a long hallway that lead to another set of doors. This hallway was tall and narrow, and was lit with torches and a low flame. There were vents near the top of the corridor that provided air and got rid of the smoke. Sounds of battle can be heard from the far end. From what Ash could tell, the battle was tough, fierce, and most of all, exciting. Loud sounds of growling, screaming, and destruction rang through the hallway. Violent vibrations from the impact shook the tunnel. Ash quickened his pace towards the end, almost at running speed. He threw the door open to a white light.

After Ash stepped further into the arena, he spots a massive battlefield below with two people and pokemon battling it out. There was a charmander on one side of the field and a giant rock snake at the other end. Leaf made it just in time to watch the charmander and rock snake rush each other again. They could not understand what each trainer was saying; the sounds blended together and dispersed all over the arena. The dust cloud grew to an enormous size and blinded everyone below. When the dust settled, Leaf could make out the features of each of the trainers. The trainer to the left had on a purple polo shirt with dark blue jeans as well as a stern attitude and aura. The trainer to the right also had spiky brown hair, squinty eyes, and had on a pair of brown pants and an orange shirt with a green vest. He was also quite tall, having a couple of inches over the other. Leaf knew exactly who these two people were: Gary and Brock, the researcher they met yesterday.

"Oh look, Ash! There's Gary and Brock battling it out. It looks like Brock's having a hard time keeping up…" Ash was awed by Gary's performance. He has definitely improved his skill in battle…must be all that training he has done while Ash and Leaf got lost in the forest. Charmander single-handedly took out the rock snake with an attack that surprised Brock. What normally would be a scratch should not have made a large gash like this attack did. The rock snake fainted where it revealed a large gash on its head. Charmander stood at the other end with its claws abnormally shiny and chrome. He was breathing heavily as it slammed its claws at the ground in victory. Gary looked around to find the source of the gasps that echoed throughout. He spotted the two trainers from the viewing area, and smirked. The referee on the other side of the viewing area held a red flag in Gary's direction.

"Onix has fainted, Gary Oak is the winner of this match," the referee bellowed over the PA system.

"Seems like you missed a good show," Gary said, now facing the audience, "I know I beat him fairly easily. Let's see if you can do the same. I'm sure you can give 'ol pretty boy here ("HEY!") a run for his money since you can beat me, right?" Ash gulped. He was not sure if he could do it since he noticed the sheer improvement in Gary's pokemon. He started to sweat profusely.

'Ummmm…crap…he got really strong in a really short amount of time…' Leaf noticed Ash sweating his brains out and put a hand on his shoulder. It seemed to calm him down a bit.

"Hey…don't worry, Ash; I believe you can do this."

"Thanks." Brock offered Gary the Boulder Badge as his reward, which Gary snatched up and sternly walked out of the building. Brock let out a very dissatisfied sigh, and grunted. He also looked up at the audience and waved before disappearing through the doors with his injured pokemon.

As soon as the door closed, Leaf looked at the clock, which read 11:30 AM. Her match was in half an hour. She decided it was good time as ever to read over the rules, which were oddly specific:

**_Gym Leader Battles for the Pokemon League Tournament Qualifier – Rules and Regulations_**

_-Gym Leaders choose pokemon at various levels based on the number of badges the opposing trainer has_

_-As a gym leader's battles are the ultimate test of a trainer's skill, the gym leaders will decide the battle style_

_-These battles are always officiated by a Pokemon League Referee_

_-Bribing the gym leader is on grounds of cheating; it will not be tolerated_

_-Gym leaders may require tasks for the trainer to perform before earning the chance to battle said leader_

-…

"So this would be like any other trainer battle, but it's closely regulated and monitored to enforce League rules. Huh," Leaf mused as she continued reading down the page, "Well, it's time to prepare for my match with Brock. I wonder if you're going to battle Brock or his dad. He said they both run the gym."

"Well good luck in your match! I'll be rooting for yah! I think you better make your way down to the field to stretch and stuff." Leaf nodded and headed down the stairs to the field where she took out all three of her pokemon. Ash smiled back as her form became smaller and smaller as she descended further down.

'I hope she does well. I know she'll do well.'

On the field, Leaf took her pokemon out and looked at them passion and conviction. She patted each of them on the head, smiling at each one as she went to the next.

"Okay, guys. This is our very first Gym Battle. I want you all to do your best and whatever happens, I'm still proud of you all. We've worked hard for this moment, right?" All of the pokemon nodded in agreement. Alright, let's start stretching out and warm up. We've got a long fight ahead of us." She started telling each pokemon what to do. Squirtle and Jigglypuff began running back and forth to warm up their speed while caterpie started shooting high-viscosity silk at makeshift targets. There was about a 50 percent hit rate from those and Leaf would have to make sure to train her harder. Squirtle began retreating and popping out of the shell at a rapid pace. Jigglypuff found a rock and started pounding the crap out of it until the rock crumbled. She also started to inhale a large amount of air, holding it for several seconds, and releasing it. Jigglypuff and Squirtle then started a shoving match to warm up their power. Caterpie took turns with them as well with this. This went on for the next half an hour.

Brock reappeared on the other side of the field and the referee appeared on the other side of the viewing area. He spoke to the PA system, alerting everybody in the arena.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. The next scheduled match will begin. Will the trainer by the name of Lily Greenway step up to the trainer's box." Leaf retreated all of her pokemon (sans Jigglypuff) into their balls and slowly made her way up to the box. To her, the light seemed to get brighter as she stepped up to the box, almost blinding her to where she shielded herself from the rays of light. She felt hot, but cold at the same time. Her nerves of steel melted into a mush of nervousness and delirium. All sense of confidence was thrown out the window in seconds. She reached the top of the box and dropped her bag beside her. She struggled to see the other side of the field, hyperventilating.

"So Leaf," Brock called out from the other side, "are you ready for your first gym battle?" Leaf hesitated answering back. She only nodded slowly.

"I can see you're nervous from over there, being your first gym battle and all. Just do your best and everything will be alright!" Leaf's confidence rose again as she grabbed her pokeball. Brock's tone became more sinister. "This will be a one-on-one battle. I will be using two pokemon. You will be able to use your entire party. Now…let's get started, shall we? Let's go, Geodude!" Leaf was expecting a behemoth of a pokemon to appear, only to be disappointed by a small rock with two appendages and a face. It was rather puzzling to her that there was an animate rock. She quickly pulled out Dextra for information.

"Well good afternoon, Leaf! Yah miss me? I missed being able to scan pokemon for you. Why don't you use me more? I could use a little exercise you know." Leaf let out an exasperated sigh.

'Why can't my pokedex be less annoying? Why can't it be like Dexter?'

"Just shut up and scan for me, please…"

"Very well, then. Geodude: the rock pokemon. It is found in fields and mountains. Mistaking them for boulders, people often step or trip on them. Its known attacks are Tackle and Defense Curl."

"Let's go Squirtle!" Leaf cried, "Let's start off with Bubble!" As bubbles collided with the rock pokemon, it whined in pain and rolled away, taking serious damage. Brock flinched a bit, but still had hope.

'Geeez…she's using a water pokemon; this is gonna be over rather quickly. Let's hope she doesn't catch on.'

"Geodude! Defense Curl!" The rock pokemon rolled up in a ball and planted itself in that spot.

"Tackle it, Squirtle! Make sure it loosens up!" Squirtle's shell collided with the pokemon, throwing it into the air, but not loosening like she planned. Squirtle came up with an idea: when it lands, Tail Whip it and it will swat back up, then aim a Bubble attack at the underside, since the arms doesn't seem to be protecting there. Leaf seemed to be thinking the same thing since she also saw the underside being unprotected. She smirked, making Brock quiver even more.

"Squirtle. Tail Whip, then follow with Bubble. You know where to hit it." Sure enough, the rock was swatted back into the air. Squirtle immediately turned back blew an enormous bubble blast at the underside of the geodude. It was knocked further into the air and landed at Brock's feet. Geodude now looked dead tired, but its will did not match its physical condition. It continued to hop towards Squirtle, preparing for a tackle.

"Geodude, I know you're tired, but try to tackle it the best you can." And it did just that, just missing entirely and dug itself into the ground. When it was able to lift itself, there was a mini crater with its imprint. There, it was panting heavily and on the brink of collapsing. Leaf decided to finish it to save it from further embarrassment.

"Finish it off with Bubble!" The bubble finally took out the remaining strength of Geodude. It twirled to its side and collapsed, closing its eyes out of exhaustion.

"Geodude is no longer able to battle. Will Gym Leader Brock send out his next pokemon," the referee announced. Curiosity held Leaf by the neck as she anxiously awaited the next pokemon. Seeing the small rock pokemon lowered her expectations quite a bit; she was expecting another small rock pokemon. Brock could not have more than one rock snake that Gary beat up on, right? She was very wrong.

"Onix! Let's finish them off!" A towering snake of boulders appeared, letting out a roar that made Ash and Pikachu up in the stands cover their ears. Leaf was actually frightened by this…rock snake. The head consisted of pieces of boulder in the shape of a face, eyes, and hinge-like mouth. The head had a tall, narrow dorsal fin for some unknown reason. The size of the individual boulders gradually got smaller as it moved towards the tail. Overall, it was one pokemon that Leaf would not want to mess with even on a good day.

"What the hell is THAT?" Leaf asked loudly out of fear. Ash pulled out Dexter to let him do his thing.

"Commencing scan of pokemon. Onix: the rock snake pokemon. It usually lives underground. It searches for food while boring its way through the ground at 50 miles per hour. Its known moves are Tackle, Bind, Harden, and Rock Tomb." Leaf looked at Squirtle and decided it was time for him to rest.

"Alright, it's time for you to rest. I'll get you later when I need you most, okay?" Squirtle nodded and hopped back into its ball. Leaf decided she wanted to give Caterpie a shot.

"Alright, you're up Caterpie!" Caterpie was generally a small pokemon. This was in contrast to the 29 foot behemoth that stood in front of her. But what surprised Leaf was that Caterpie did not back down like she expected her to; she stood there ready to attack. Leaf thought she could start off confusing the snake.

"String-shot!" Now during warm-up, there was a 50 percent chance the silk would actually hit and make its mark. Leaf was hoping it was not the usual case where Caterpie would completely miss and blind her or Jigglypuff. Fortunately, the silk hit spot on with the face, and it was a rather impressive shot being almost 30 feet away. Onix was now blind and started thrashing around to throw it all off.

"Onix, try to get the silk off! HURRY AND TACKLE!" Onix still thrashed around trying to get the silk off, but the tough silk held in place. It got impatient with itself and threw a tackle at where the source Caterpie's call was. She has not moved from that spot ever since the silk hit. Leaf looked on in panic as the silk-covered snake flew towards the tiny caterpillar.

"CATERPIE! MOVE NOW!" Small bugs like Caterpie were supposed to have been crushed by that instant, but this particular caterpie had an insane amount of speed and evasion. Caterpie moved itself to the right just in time as the snake made contact with the ground.

"Tackle it, now!" Caterpie head butted the snake, only to cause little damage. She bounced off and back onto the ground, next to the snake.

"Onix! Bind the bug to your left!" Onix wrapped its entire body around Caterpie before she could attempt another high-speed evasion. She was lifted high off the ground and put in an anaconda-style choke hold. This is where Leaf could hear cries of pain from the poor bug.

"Crap…hang in there Caterpie! Fight through the pain! I know you can do it!" Onix continued its choke hold for five full minutes until Caterpie magically slipped out. She was heavily wounded and could barely scrawl. Leaf was about to call her back when Caterpie decided she wanted to go out with dignity.

"Are you sure about this, Caterpie?" She nodded in response.

"Alright. One more tackle then you need some rest, okay?" She nodded again and readied herself for a tackle. Onix was particularly sure that he would not feel a thing from this tiny bug. It was sorely mistaken, however, when Caterpie launched itself at its head and had enough force to throw its head back and cause whiplash. It returned a growl with Caterpie lying in ground opposite and exhausted.

"Alright. You need to take a rest, sweety. Return." Leaf was about to use her next, and favorite, weapon in her arsenal: Jigglypuff.

"It's not over yet, Brock. Jigglypuff! Go!" Jigglypuff stood ready to deliver her signature pound to the snake. She was fueled by anger, hatred, and determination. Her frown turned to a sadistic smile after Onix released its attack.

"Tackle that jigglypuff!" Onix threw its head at the balloon, the silk already wearing off. Jigglypuff was fast enough to roll to the left and throw herself back at the snake.

"Jigglypuff! Pound it like you wake me up!" She was lucky enough that she can keep herself afloat if necessary, so she flew up to the snake's head and proceeded to _bitch-slap the fuck_ out of Onix. Jigglypuff was relentless with her attack. Hits, upon hits, upon hits kept making contact with the snake, forcing its head violently left and right. By this time, Onix was recoiling from the surprisingly massive damage it took from the tiny balloon. Ash, watching from above, stared dumbfounded at the damage Jigglypuff caused.

"Heh…must be all that training she got waking up Leaf every day, right Pikachu?" Pikachu snickered back in response.

Back on the floor, things were not looking too good for Onix at this point; it was only about to get worse. Leaf discretely took out a pair of earplugs and slipped them in while Brock was still in shock of what that Jigglypuff just did. Jigglypuff looked back at her master and saw her putting in the last of the earplugs. She smirked and started singing. The song echoed throughout the arena. The ref, noticing what was going on, pulled out his noise-cancelling earphones while Brock realized the attack a bit too late.

"Onix! Bury your head before you…uh…I'm tired…-zzzzzz-" Onix fell asleep as well. Leaf, admiring her work, took out her earplugs and looked at Jigglypuff.

"Alright. Should we finish it with the big guns? I know now that rocks are weak to water." Jigglypuff nodded, having had her fun for the day. She floated back up to the platform and sat next to her master. Leaf pulled out her last pokeball to finish Onix off, who was now asleep and heavily injured. One more super-effective hit and Onix would be completely done.

"Alright, Squirtle! Let's finish it off!" Squirtle, already knowing what to do, launched himself straight at the snake, head butted its head, and released a powerful Bubble, causing the snake to jolt awake. Squirtle took the chance and fired another round, taking advantage of the disoriented Onix. And thus, Onix was completely finished, lying on the ground unable to move.

"Onix is unable to battle. Lily Greenway is the winner!" the referee announced. Leaf, Jigglypuff, and Squirtle all rejoiced together while Brock made his way across the field. He smiled brightly at Leaf's astounding performance.

"That was some battle there, Leaf; you really had me there at the end. That was totally nuts what you did there with the singing and switching of pokemon. And the power of your pokemon was crazy, too! Here's the Boulder Badge as a sign that you have tested your skills as a Pokemon Trainer. Only seven more to go, right?" Leaf smiled brightly and Ash ran down to the field to meet with them.

"Wow! That was some battle there, Leaf! I didn't know you had it in you to battle like that!" Leaf's bright smile turned into a rather dark smile.

"So you're saying you didn't have faith in me at all?" Ash recoiled and Brock had sweat drops forming.

"Th-th-th-THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT! I meant that it was just a surprise that you were able to fight like that! I'm not doubting your skills."

"Haha, you better not doubt it. After all, I learn by watching the best, right?" Ash blushed at the complement.

"Aw shoot…you're too kind, Leaf."

"And here's what the Boulder Badge looks like!" Ash stared at the grey-colored gem that Leaf held out in her hands. He was mesmerized by the power and honor it beheld. It was a sign of a truly great trainer.

"Hey, Ash," Brock called out to get his attention, "you and I have a date at 1:30, right?" Ash suddenly remembered that he had a match today as well.

"Oh yeah!"

"Well, it's almost 1:00 right now. Why don't you go ahead and start warming up. I'll be in my office taking a short break. That was one tough battle." And Brock disappeared back behind the door at the other side of the arena.

"Well I can't tell how the battle will turn out for you, but remember to do your best and give it your all, right?" Leaf encouraged. Ash smiled back and nodded.

"Yeah. Who wouldn't give it their all after all? Pikachu and I got this, right?" Pikachu threw his tiny arm up in the air, energized.

"Well good luck to you both down there. I think you should warm up a bit before he gets back. I'll be watching you from up here!"

"Thanks!" And with that, Ash and Pikachu made it to the floor where the Trainers' box was. Ash released all of his pokemon to begin the warm-up session.

"Alright guys, this is the big day we've all been waiting for. This is our first real test as a team. Just do your best out there and give it your all! This is ours for taking, right?!" His entire party gave cries of energy and passion. They were pumped and ready to go. "Let's warm up, guys! I'll tell you what to do." Pikachu and Bulbasaur starting running back and forth while Weedle tried to shoot String Shots at the two. Unlike Caterpie, Weedle was able to hit Pikachu 75 percent of the time and Bulbasaur 85 percent. After about 5 minutes of that, Pikachu was continually charging himself, making sure he was fully of electricity. Bulbasaur and Weedle practiced Leech Seed launches with Weedle making a makeshift basket to catch the seedlings. Weedle also used that to shoot darts into the basket. The basket itself was pretty small, so they had to work on precision. Things looked pretty good on their end, so they moved to Tackles. Pikachu attempted to block Bulbasaur's tackle, much like Ash has seen in Unovian Football. The clock hit 1:30 and Brock made his appearance, once again with two pokeballs.

'It looks like he's gonna use the same two pokemon…what does he have? A rapid recovery machine?' The referee than made his announcement for the third time today.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. The next scheduled match will begin. Will the trainer by the name of Ashton Ketchum step up to the trainer's box." Ash retreated all of his pokemon and stepped up to the box. He and Pikachu had a confident smirks on their face, like they were going to walk out of here in five minutes or less.

"Well, Ash," Brock started, with the same smirk, "aren't you confident today?"

"Yup, I'm ready to defeat you and take home the Boulder Badge."

"I like your attitude, but the smirk can be easily wiped off."

"Well let's see what you got. Let's go Bulbasaur!" Bulbasaur stood at the ready. Brock let out the same pokemon from before: his geodude.

"Alright Geodude, let's kick this off with a Tackle!" Geodude used its powerful arms to launch himself at Bulbasaur, who quickly dodged out of the way. Geodude rolled over to his side and got right back up, something Ash did not expect to happen after watching Leaf's match. He was expecting for Geodude to bury himself into the ground, only it did not attack high but straight across.

"Leech seed!" Seedlings flew over to the Geodude, who was busy stabilizing itself form the miss-attack. The seeds latched on to the boulder and began to grow, suffocating the boulder and slowing it down.

"Down let the seeds slow you down! Get up and tackle!" And thus began almost 10 minutes straight of repeated tackle after tackle of what looked like a stalemate. Blow after blow, it seemed like Geodude was finally slowing down since the seeds were constantly draining its energy. Bulbasaur's energy depleted as well from the constant blows. Both were losing concentration, but Bulbasaur still had enough energy for one more tackle. He was panting heavily, but able to stand on all fours, while Geodude was still trying to stabilize itself.

"Alright, Bulbasaur! One more Tackle to finish it off!" Bulbasaur used its remaining strength to completely take out the Geodude. It rolled over to the right and failed to get back up. Geodude was out cold.

"Geodude is no longer able to battle. Will Gym Leader Brock send out his next pokemon," the referee announced. Unfortunately for Ash, Bulbasaur was also very tired. Ash looked at Bulbasaur concerned that the seed pokemon would not be able to last the entire fight against the next pokemon, which he knew was a lot more powerful than the Geodude he valiantly took down with much effort. Ash was prepared to take out his pokeball when Bulbasaur glared at him.

'_Don't worry, master; I've got this handled. All I would have to do is throw a Leech Seed and it should be easy sailing from there, right?'_ Ash could somehow understand what Bulbasaur was getting at based on its gestures. He did not like the idea, but Bulbasaur was dead set in finishing out this battle. He wanted to go out to please Ash. Ash could not stop him even if he tried.

"Are you sure about this? You really need some-"

'_I told you I can do it!'_ Bulbasaur yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Alright, just be wary of your condition. You have to tread very carefully if you don't wanna be taken out. Got it?" Bulbasaur nodded and got into attack position. Brock held onto his next pokeball.

"I'm sure you know very well what this pokemon is. This round will be a lot tougher than the next. Are you ready for this?"

"Bulbasaur can take anything, right, buddy?" Bulbasaur yipped aggressively.

"Well, here comes the next pokemon. Onix, go!" The same (?) rock snake towered in front of the seed pokemon.

"Bulbasaur use Le-"

"Onix, tackle it before it gets any seed on you!" It reared back its head, charging the blow, and releasing it all within a blink of an eye.

"Shit! Bulbasaur, MOVE!" Bulbasaur tried to tumble to the right, but was not fast enough for the incoming jackhammer. The poor seed pokemon was hit straight on by the behemoth and tossed backwards towards Ash's feet. Bulbasaur could not even move a single limb with no remaining strength left. He was done for. Ash had to call him back to prevent any further damage.

To Ash, he had to go with one of two options: fight with Pikachu, or fight with Weedle. None of these pokemon knew any physical, damage-dealing moves that for sure would provide _some_ damage. He was wary of electric attacks being even remotely effective against rock. The bug pokemon did not know anything than poison moves and a defensive move. This was all playing out bad in Ash's mind; his star pokemon he relied on was taken out of the match. Said pokemon did not have a very good move set other than Tackle. Ash was at a dilemma: which of the pokemon would start to continue this seemingly losing battle. He would die trying anyways.

He figured that Weedle should get some battle experience anyways, so Weedle made an appearance next. The spiky-horned worm stood where Bulbasaur was taken out, only to stand in front of the giant snake of rocks.

"Weedle! Poison Sting!" Weedle pulled his head back while launching himself towards the snake. It looked rather cute to see a small bug attempting to defeat one of the longest and largest pokemon. Once released, Onix seemed to be unaffected by attack and brushed it off.

"Bind it up, Onix!"

"Weedle! MOVE BEFORE IT GETS YOU!" Weedle tried to scurry away, but it was too late. Onix already had a full hold on Weedle and constricted it, causing the poor bug to cry in pain.

'Crap…this is exactly what I didn't want to happen…' "Hang in there, Weedle! Work through the pain and try to string shot the Onix!" Weedle tried to form a strand of silk, but the pain was too much to bear. Finally, the constricting stopped when Weedle was dropped, losing the majority of its energy in the process. He could barely crawl to the snake, offering one last poison sting.

"Weedle, you should know that poison sting is just not fazing Onix or other rock pokemon."

'_I'm gonna do it anyways! I won't go down without a fight!'_

"Okay, I'll let you finish out this one out." Weedle did a final poison sting, which missed its target by a mile.

"Finish it with Rock Tomb."

'What the fuck…Rock Tomb? What the hell is that?!" Onix slammed its tail onto the ground, throwing up massive amounts of rock and dirt. Onix then picked up its tail and slammed the pile of airborne rocks and pretty much buried Weedle, who by now was in no condition to fight anymore. Ash was now out of options; the only pokemon he has left was Pikachu and his confidence started to waver. Pikachu knew this was a losing battle, but he wanted to try anyways. He tugged on Ash's red vest.

'_Let me give it a go, Ash. I may not win, but I'll think of something.'_

"Are you sure about this, Pikachu. You don't look so sure of it yourself."

'_Don't worry; I'll be fine.'_

"Well I guess we have no other options. Alright, Pikachu. Give it your all! Thundershock!" Pikachu hopped onto the field and let loose a bolt of electricity at Onix, which bounced off and five different directions. Ash started to panic.

'Oh shit…electricity has no effect on rocks! And all of Pikachu's attacks are electric-based! CRAP WE'RE IN TROUBLE!' Pikachu was equally freaking out on the field after seeing his attack bounce off. Onix smirked and Brock issued a follow-up.

"Tackle, Onix!"

"Pikachu! Dodge it!" Onix's head came crashing down at the mouse, but Pikachu was quick, he dashed to the right…right into Onix's tail section. He tumbled backwards and Onix's tail section started to move.

"Onix! Bind it when you still go the chance!" And thus, Pikachu was in the same predicament as Weedle, only this time it took much longer to drain Pikachu's strength than it did the poor bug. Pikachu's screams of pain echoed throughout the stadium. Onix had him in a choke hold for over 10 minutes. This definitely looked like a losing fight for the glorious Ash Ketchum.

-_Pewter City Gym Viewing Area_-

_Beginning of the battle_

The battle from above was just as interesting as what was going on below. Leaf was waiting patiently for the match to begin; she leaned over the railing with Jigglypuff on her shoulders. She could feel the intensity of this fight from where she was at. As the match began, someone walked up beside Leaf, giving her a jolt of surprise.

"Heh…what do you know. Ash-y Boy's match is just about to start. He better win this if he has what it takes to beat me." Leaf's right eye brow went up.

"So you're not gonna wish for his downfall?"

"He needs to win this to keep everything consistently in order. I won against Brock, and Ash beat me twice in a row. It's only natural that he kick Brock's ass, right?"

"…huh? Matches can go either way…I still don't get your consistency logic."

"It's…never mind. It would just make me feel better about my win if he won too. It just wouldn't make sense to me if Ash lost and I won."

"…how…never mind. The match is about to begin. So quiet down, will yah!"

"Okay, okay, sheesh…pesky girl…"

~SLAP~

"…ow…"

The match began in earnest. Moves were being thrown all over the place. Gary and Leaf watched in awe as both Bulbasaur and Geodude gave brutal beatings to each other.

"Leech Seed, huh, slowing down the opponent, followed up with this current Tackle fest. Ash doesn't really have a game plan set, does he?" Gary mused from above.

"Well…he's not a strategist like you are; he plans on impulse and instinct," Leaf answered.

"Wait…how does that work? Don't you need strategy to win? Like a playbook or something?"

"Everyone has their own comfortable battle styles, if you haven't noticed. I doubt he'd do as well if he were to follow your mantle. He's a quick thinker in battle, no matter how slow he is to common sense outside battle."

"Whoa…someone's defending his honor dearly. Are you the man of this relationship? Heheheh."

"Sigh…at this rate, I'll end up being the man and asking him o-," Leaf stopped herself for a moment, 'WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST SAY?!'

"Hohooo…did I just hear Leaf confess her love for As-"

"You will NOT repeat ANYTHING I had just said. I know how to find you and when I do find you, I can GUARANTEE you WILL NOT be able to BEAR CHILDREN. GOT IT?!" Leaf exploded, jousting her finger at Gary's chest. This caused him to grow a lot smaller than Leaf.

"Y-y-y-yes, mam…"

"Good, now let's watch the battle, shall we. I think Bulbasaur is gonna take out Geodude."

_Pokemon Switch_

"So Bulbasaur barely has any strength left and is gonna fight against Onix?!" Gary yelled, "WHAT IS THIS IDIOT THINKING?!" As Gary thought, Bulbasaur was subdued quickly. "Well, there goes his only chance of winning. So I lost to an idiot?!"

"HEY! Ash is just having a tough battle! Give him some slack, he doesn't have a stable party or move set for this match!"

"And that's the problem here! He should have figured that out! He should have done his homework! I'm disappointed."

They both watched Weedle get taken out in less than 3 minutes and Pikachu getting himself into his current predicament. Needless to say, Gary and Leaf knew the outcome of this battle.

_-Pewter City Gym Battlefield_-

Pikachu was getting rather tired. He had been in this bind for well over 10 minutes with no sign of the pain letting up. Onix decided to let go and recharge itself. Pikachu knew it could not use electric attacks on rocks now that it bounced off, so he was at a loss of what to do. Ash was pretty much thinking the same thing at this point. Pikachu took on serious damage from the Bind and struggled to keep himself balanced. Things were looking grim for Ash Ketchum.

"Onix, finish the Pikachu off with Rock Tomb."

"Pikachu! Try to dodge it!" Onix hit the ground again to throw up copious amounts of rock and dirt and swatted them towards Pikachu. Pikachu tried to move, but was not fast enough to completely dodge it. It was buried under a rather large amount of rocks. Pikachu was finished. After 10 seconds of no movement, the referee made his announcement, the announcement that Ash did not want to hear.

"Pikachu is unable to battle. Gym Leader Brock is the winner!" A dead silence followed, not even a single pin dropped. Ash stood still, clearly in shock that he lost. He felt his insides rip away from his body and his soul crushed by giant rocks. After Onix cleared the pile of rocks, Ash saw Pikachu lay there, limp. He ran down to the field towards his fallen friend.

"Hey Pikachu, are you okay?"

'_I'm sorry I lost this one for you. I didn't know what to expect.'_

"It's alright. I'm still proud of you…all of you…for going out there and giving it your all." Brock suddenly walked up to the trainer and offered his two cents. He patted the trainer on the shoulder as Ash picked up Pikachu from the ground.

"Hey, Ash."

"Yeah? Please tell me you aren't gonna gloat your victory…"

"Huh? Why would I do that? Anyways, this was some match we had. Although you lost, you did fight pretty well there. Using your best weapon at the beginning and not letting it rest was probably not the safest idea. But keep working hard and you'll beat me next time, right?"

"Yeah, that's what we'll do. We'll work harder to defeat you!" Ash said with a grin.

"That's the spirit. Now I shall take my leave. I shouldn't have any more scheduled matches for today I think." Brock turned around and disappeared through the doors. Ash just stood around when he heard footsteps approaching him. He turned around to find Leaf and…Gary?!

Leaf had a concerned look on her face and Gary had a disappointed look on his face. Leaf was the first to approach the brooding Ash.

"Hey…are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine; I just need to work harder, right?"

"I guess so. I'm sure you'll beat him next time, right Gary?"

"…hmmmmph…"

"And what's your problem, Gary?" Leaf sharply questioned.

"…"

"Anyways, let's go find something to eat to cheer you up, Ash."

"…okay…" All three trainers walked out of the gym and towards a Wild Duck Burger joint. Ash and Leaf had not eaten anything since the morning. A burger would do Ash wonders right now to boost his rather low spirits. As they got to the front of the restaurant, Gary refused to go in.

"Not eating with us, Gary?" Leaf inquired.

"No. I'm going on ahead to get to the next city. You can have Ash, unless you want to tag along and not be held back." Leaf gave Gary a glare that could rival that of an angry Tauros. Insulting Ash clearly pushed a red button.

"Why would I want to join someone who looks down on others and who constantly calls me a 'pesky girl'. So FUCK YOU! You can go on without me."

"Hmmph. As I thought. Well I'll see you both in Cerulean City." And with that, Gary walked away towards the east. Leaf was still fuming mad at her cousin, who would talk so lowly of her best friend. She could not believe he would further wound Ash's already deflated ego.

"C'mon Ash, let's go eat. I need something to take my mind off that asshole." Ash nodded and walked inside. They stood in line for what would be five or so minutes before ordering. They waited another five minutes before getting large hamburgers and finding a small table. They ate in silence for a while. Ash had barely touched his food.

"Geeez…I can't believe I lost today…" Ash said in a rather low tone. Leaf looked up from her burger and saw that Ash barely finished half of his burger, very unusual after about 15 minutes of eating. Wanting to do something, Leaf grabbed hold of Ash's free left hand and smirked. Ash was taken aback by such a gesture.

'Hoooo boy…she's grabbing my hand and smiling like she has something planned…what do I do, what do I do…'

"Well we're just gonna have to fix that, right?" Ash nodded, not sure where this was going. Whenever Leaf gets passionate, she can get pretty scary…at least in Ash's eyes. At the next table over, a man in a lab coat heard the entire conversation. He looked over to the table and saw that the trainer was clearly distressed about losing.

'Hmmm…he lost to my son pretty badly. I'm interested.'

-_Pewter City Pokemon Hotel and Recovery Center_-

_2:45 PM_

Ash and Leaf waited at the recovery center for their pokemon to be recovered. It took longer than usual, so they decided to explore the large center.

"Hey! Let's go up to the roof, Ash!"

"Okay."

They took the elevator up to the top floor where they got out at a landing of sorts. When they walked outside, they could see a large pokemon battlefield with artificial turf and mapped out lines. From the landing, they turned around and looked towards downtown. One could clearly see the buildings and people going about their business. The blue skies reflected off the window panes of the buildings, making them near invisible. The cool breeze swept Leaf's long, brown hair, throwing it everywhere (well, where it was not held down by her fedora). It also set her dress's lower half in motion as it danced to the wind's rhythm. It was just a nice view on a nice day.

"So," Leaf suddenly said, "this is where we will be getting better, understand?"

"Yup," Ash agreed. Suddenly, the elevator door opened again revealing a man in a lab coat, dark brown spiky hair, and squinty eyes. In other words, this was an aged copy of Brock.

"I would like to assist you, as well," the man said, earning the attention and shock of the two trainers.

"Ummmm…who are you?" Leaf asked warily.

"Excuse me for my sudden presence. I couldn't help hear your conversation at the restaurant earlier."

"So you followed us all the way here?" Leaf asked in alarm.

"As I said, I would like to assist you in training the trainer next to you."

"Forget that! You followed us here! YOU CREEPER!"

"Do you want my help or not?!" the man yelled. Ash decided to step in, diffusing the ensuing chaos.

"Ummm…you still haven't introduced yourself, and telling us why you want to help me."

"Ah…forgive me. My name is Flint Harrison. As you can tell from my last name, I am Brock's father." Leaf and Ash gasped at the fact. Why in the world did Brock's dad follow them all the way to the Pokemon Center?

"Brock has mentioned to you that there are in fact two Gym Leaders at the Pewter City Gym," Ash and Leaf nodded recalling the conversation from the other night, "ah, then you can figure out who the other Gym Leader is." Leaf went bug-eyed to the realization, while Ash took a little more time sinking in the new information.

'Okay, Brock ate with us last night…he said there was two gym leaders. He was one of them. That means the other is…well it might be someone who co-runs it. The gym isn't family-owned, is it? Maybe, maybe not. But if this is family run, that means he is the other gym leader. Brock is the oldest sibling, so it makes sense. On the other hand, if it wasn't family owned then who could it be…' Leaf slapped him upside the head to speed up the process, and summoned a…megaphone?

"HE'S THE OTHER GYM LEADER, YOU IDIOT!" Ash cowered to a corner and tried to cover his ears.

"Hey! That's not nice!" Ash yelled back, "It could have been someone else."

"He was making it obvious that it was him!"

"Well, then. Wait…why does a gym leader, whom I might be facing tomorrow, want to help me out? I lost pretty badly." Flint only smiled at the question.

"Well I should start by telling you that I receive a live stream from my office in the lab. There are cameras set up all over the gym so Brock and I know what is going on with the gym at any time of the day. It is the same with the lab. The lab has cameras which get live streaming from the gym. Both areas get live stream from the house. So in the event, like the 4-alarm break-in we had, either Brock and/or I would take care of the situation. In the 4-alarm break-in, I was busy at the time, but I knew Brock was out eating somewhere as he usually does, so I knew he took care of it. I have to thank you guys for the help, by the way. There were three of you, but I only see two; where is the other boy?"

"Oh, he left town early to get to the next city. He prefers travelling alone," Leaf answered for the group.

"Well that's a bummer. How about after the training, I'll treat you all to dinner." Ash's ears perked up at the thought of a free meal, a home-cooked meal, too.

"Alright, you still haven't told me why would help me out."

"Ahh…I have seen the footage at the lab and I see potential in you, boy. Now let's get started, shall we."

"Wait! We haven't got back our pokemon from the recovery ward, yet!" As Leaf said that, both pagers rang. "Speak of the devil…" The three trainers walked down to the recovery center to retrieve their party. Ash and Leaf took Pikachu and Jigglypuff out of their pokeballs, respectively. Pikachu looked at Ash with a sullen face.

'_I'm sorry, Ash. I failed you in your hour of need. I shall atone for my sins! I shall commit Harakiri!' _Ash looked back with a displeased face.

"Look, Pikachu. I know you are feeling bad about losing the battle, but I'm proud of you for going out there and trying your hardest. There was nothing you could do to prevent the loss. Forgive yourself for me, please; you have no reason to feel sorry. I don't even feel sorry. Live and learn. That's the motto we all should live by." Pikachu nodded.

"So now you have your party, let's begin the training." They all traveled back up to the roof and out to the battlefield. Flint stood at one end of the semi-circle in the center while Ash and Leaf stood at the other.

"Leaf, I will need you to join me over here and I will request that I borrow your pokemon. Please tell me what moves your pokemon knows." Leaf listed off all of what she knows about her party. Flint took mental notes as he prepared an ad-hoc training regimen.

"Now that we have situated ourselves. Let's get started, shall we? Take out your Bulbasaur; we're gonna teach it some new moves."

-_Harrison Residence_-

_8:00 PM_

Flint, Leaf, Ash, Pikachu, and Jigglypuff stood in front of the large house in a gated neighborhood. It was washed in white stucco and sported a very modern architecture. The shapes were geometric and had every possible corner and prism known to mankind. It almost looked straight out of a geometry textbook.

"This…is a very nice house, Mr. Harrison," Ash complimented. Flint laughed and dismissed the comment.

"Why thanks, but you can just call me Flint, the Mr. makes me sound way too old!" Ash and Leaf laughed in response. "I had called Brock earlier to tell him we were having you guys over, so don't worry; there's plenty of food."

"Alright!" the rest of the party said. Flint opened the door into the large foyer and made his presence known.

"Hey, everyone! I'm home!"

"DADDY!" they heard a bunch of kids say. The house started to quake in the wake of a massive stampede. Ash and Leaf's smile transformed into fear as the army of children made their final approach. The front line jumped first at the party. All five of them fell to the crowd, trampled and beaten.

"CRAP! HOW ARE WE GETTING OUT OF THIS?!" Leaf screamed.

"I DON'T KNOW, BUT THERE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE CROWD CONTROL OR SOMETHING!" Ash screamed back. They heard a voice from below.

"Hey, kids! Daddy misses you, too, but can we let our two guests have a little bit of breathing room?" The kids suddenly jumped off and away. A voice of a woman can be heard from the kitchen.

"Oh? Is that my husband and his guests that got attacked by the little ones? (haha)"

"Is that Lola, my sweet?"

"Yes, dear. Come give your dearest a hug and kiss." Ash and Leaf looked at each other, with awkward smiles.

"Now I know how they were able to have 10 kids…" Ash whispered to Leaf. This earned him a slap to the face.

"And that's how you get a slap in the face." Lola looked at Ash and Leaf.

"Oh…are these our guests? Are you two trainers?" Ash and Leaf nodded as they took a good look at her. She was a bit taller than Leaf and about the same width and build. Her wavy, auburn hair reached halfway down her neck matched her deep brown eyes. She was physically fit and looked like she could duel a tyrannitar and win. Her skin looked rough, but smooth at the same time. She had on a pink tank top and jeans, with an apron covering herself. In other words, she looked like an athlete built to survive the wilderness. Leaf took the initiative to introduce herself.

"Oh hi! I'm Lily Greenway from Pallet Town, but most people call me Leaf and this is my friend Jigglypuff"

'_Hi!'_ Jigglypuff greeted. It was Ash's turn to go next.

"Hi! I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town and I aim to catch all of the Pokemon in the world and become the Champion of Kanto!"

"…after that loss today?" Leaf deadpanned.

"Hey! We're working on it! And this is my friend, Pikachu." Pikachu yipped as his greeting. Lola chuckled and linked arms with her husband.

"Well, let's get dinner started! I'm sure you both are starving." Ash and Leaf beamed at the prospect and followed everyone to the dining room. All was well over small talk as Ash slowly forgot about the devastating loss he experienced earlier. The gym battle was never brought up as a topic between Brock and Ash. They continued to chat through the night until it was time to return to the Pokemon Center.

-_Pewter City Pokemon Hotel and Recovery Center_-

_10:00 PM_

Flint had dropped off the four back at the Center and they went back into their rooms. Ash looked a bit restless as he threw himself on the bed. He stared at the bare white ceiling as he recounted what happened today.

'Well, I saw Gary and Leaf trash Brock in their matches and I got trashed in mine. I had Bulbasaur, Weedle, and Pikachu learn some new moves, too. Weedle evolved into Kakuna while training, so that was exciting. Leaf's pokemon also learned some new moves as well. Caterpie evolved into a Metapod, which I have to admit looks pretty badass (not that Kakuna isn't badass). I can only imagine what the next evolution would be. Well aside that, we ate with the Harrisons at their _ridiculously_ nice house. It was an enjoyable dinner with steaks and salad. Sigh, I hope I can do better tomorrow. All that training with Brock's dad should be useful. That was 5 straight hours of drills!' Leaf looked at him space off at the ceiling.

'He must be reeling in all that has happened today. Poor Ash…' "Hey, Ash."

"Hmmm?" he responded, breaking out of his reminiscence.

"Just letting you know I'll be there cheering you on tomorrow. Don't let what Gary said to me get to your head. I know you're better than that. You just have to use your battle style to your advantage, right?"

"Yeah. I guess what Flint said about going with your gut feeling and not second-guessing your choices makes sense. I've been doing that a lot, haven't I?"

"Well, I don't really notice it, but sometimes you do hesitate on moves, like you want to trust your instincts, but you can't at the same time. I think it just takes getting used to." Leaf said as she walked over to the door to turn off the lights.

"Yeah. I guess I shouldn't over think things like I did during the battle."

"Anyways, you should get some sleep so you can battle Brock, or Flint, tomorrow. You need a clear head to win this. Good night, Ash."

"Good night, Leaf. And hey, thanks for being there for me; I really appreciate it that my best friend always has my back."

"That's what best friends are for, right? We always have each other's backs, no matter what the case. Now go to bed!"

"Fine, fine…sheeh." The room fell silent and Ash returned to spacing out at the ceiling.

'I will beat the Pewter Gym tomorrow, no matter what the cost. This time, I'll beat them and take the Boulder Badge!'

_October 6__th__, 2007 – 9:00 AM_

Ash did not even need an alarm clock to jolt himself awake. He was more excited than ever. Pikachu also felt the excitement based off of the sparks coming out of his cheeks. Jigglypuff awoke, smiling at Pikachu and giving him the thumbs up. Today was going to be a good day.

"Alright, Jigglypuff. Time to wake up the sleeping beauty." And thus, Jigglypuff commenced "Operation: Alarm Clock". Leaf woke up, angry as ever. Ash and Leaf did their morning routine before packing up and heading down to breakfast. Ash was so confident in winning today that they decided to check out of the hotel. They literally ran down the street to the massive gym. Inside, they found the same receptionist.

"Oh. Back again? I assume the first beating was not enough for you?" Ash growled. Leaf was about to hold him back until he responded rather coolly.

"Well I believe this will be the last time you'll be seeing me around here after today. This will be a good match." The receptionist chuckled.

"We'll see about that. You are the first match today and your match will start in half an hour. I wish you well, Mr. Ketchum. You should know where the arena is."

"Thank you. And I will win this time." The party went into the long tunnel and into the arena. This place brings back haunting memories for Ash. It seemed it was only yesterday he remembered he got his ass handed to him in what would be his most difficult match. Today, however, would be different; this time, he upgraded his weapon arsenal and has a few new tricks up his sleeve. He turned to Leaf to bid her farewell.

"Alright, Leaf. This is it. This is where it ends. I'll walk out of here with the boulder badge whether he likes it or not." Leaf smiled.

"Well look who's overflowing with confidence. You really are amazing to bounce back after that ass-whooping yesterday."

"And I'll use that as fuel for today!"

"Well good luck, Ash! And remember, I'll always be rooting for you. I'll always have your back."

"And I'll always have yours. I'm gonna go warm up with the others."

"Alright! I'll be watching from up here!" Ash turned and took the stairs down to the field and behind the trainer's box. He took out all of his pokemon and led them in a team huddle.

"Alright, guys. This is it! This is where we prove them wrong of what we can do. This is where we make our last stand. We've got this, right?"

'_HELLS YEAH!' _they all screamed, pumping their fists in the air.

"Alright! Now that we're energized, let's warm up!" The warm-up routine remained the same. This continued until the man of the hour appeared from the door opposing the trainer's box. This morning, it could be either Brock or Flint. The Gym Leader's hair was brown and spiky, his eyes were slits, and he was wearing…an orange shirt and green vest. It was Brock again. The referee also made his appearance.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. The first scheduled match will begin. Will the trainer by the name of Ashton Ketchum step up to the trainer's box." Ash climbed up to the trainer's box, smirking at the tall, spiky-haired young man. Brock offered his own smirk.

"So, I see you've come back for a rematch. Don't think this'll be easy since you got help from my father. Yeah, I heard about that. But anyways, let's skip the small talk and get the show rolling."

"Gladly will. Bulbasaur! I choose you!" Bulbasaur was energized. He was ready for anything, especially with that new move of his. They waited to see what pokemon Brock would use this time around.

"Let's go, Geodude."

'Ah…so it's the same set list as yesterday. This'll help me a bit.' "Alright, Bulbasaur, let's start off with some planting." Bulbasaur knew what this meant. He aimed his bulb at the rock pokemon.

"Geodude! Don't let it hit you like last time!" Geodude started rolling to the right. Bulbasaur knew and calculated the trajectory of the seeds. Ash decided to give Bulbasaur a little help.

"Angle your bulb 35 degrees to the east. You should be able to catch him there." Bulbasaur angled his bulb. "RELEASE!" Seedlings started to rain down on Geodude from a surprisingly wide range. It got caught up in the seed storm and became covered in it. This was already bad news for Geodude.

'Awww not this again!' Brock screamed mentally. He still had the idea that Geodude can wear down Bulbasaur by starting the Tackle-fest again. It was too bad that Ash was not repeating the events of yesterday.

"Geodude! Tackle!" Geodude launched himself, despite being entangled and wrapped by seedlings, at Bulbasaur, who was quick to react and move without Ash's warnings. Brock was shocked by this turn of events.

"So I see you're not gonna tackle back." Ash still smirked.

"Heh. No I'm not. Let's see what you can do about this new trick I have. Bulbasaur! Vine Whip!" Bulbasaur reeled back its bulb and out of the base grew two _very_ long pairs of vines. While Geodude was attempting to get himself out of the dirt, Bulbasaur's vines whipped the poor rock out of the hole and back onto the dirt. It then whipped it several more times, not giving Geodude a chance to recover.

"Geodude! DEFENSE CURL!" Geodude then wrapped its arms around itself. Bulbasaur took this opportunity to test its vine strength. Ash knew where this idea was going.

"Bulbasaur! Toss it in the air with your vines and tackle it from underneath. It should still be unprotected!" And Bulbasaur did just that. Its vines wrapped around Geodude, who wrapped its arms around itself, and tossed it high into the air. Gravity decided it was time for it to return to Earth and right into Bulbasaur's head-butting tackle. The damage to Geodude was devastating, so much that as it hit the ground, it was not able to get back up. It laid still for 10 seconds.

"Geodude is no longer able to battle. Will Gym Leader Brock send out his next pokemon," the referee announced. Unlike yesterday, Bulbasaur was still standing up, feeling even more energized. Brock noticed this and began to panic.

'Shit…at this rate, Onix is done. Just how much training did he do yesterday?! Nevermind that, let's see how he does against Onix.' "Go, Onix!" The rock snake appeared again. Whereas yesterday Bulbasaur looked rather small, today was a different story. Bulbasaur dug his foot into the ground like hw as going to charge. It was time for Ash to make his move, only Brock made it first.

"Onix! Rock Tomb!" And in an instant, rocks were barreling down on the seed pokemon. He was not afraid though, as Ash came up with this idea to combat Rock Tomb.

"Use your vines to break the rocks apart so it would disperse!" Bulbasaur used his vines to deflect the rocks coming straight at him. The rocks fell limp around Bulbasaur, leaving him unscathed.

"My turn. Leech Seed!" Seeds rained from all directions. Onix tried to move, but could not avoid it in time. Seedlings sprouted all over its body as it roared in pain.

"Onix! Work through the pain and tackle it!" Onix cleared its head of all pain and reared its head back. It then charged full-force at Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur knew it had to move, so it slid to the left. This gave him an opening.

"Alright! Vine whip!" His vines started whipping the rock snake at its crevices near the head. Onix's head was swatted left, right, and backwards. Onix was slowing down fast from the amount of damage it was taking. Ash had another idea he wanted to try out.

"Hey, Bulbasaur! Wanna take a rest and let Pikachu have a go. He still wants to 'atone for his sins, apparently'." Pikachu rolled his eyes in response to that remark. Bulbasaur, sensing no immediate danger with the decision, went back into his ball. Ash then looked at Pikachu.

"Alright, buddy. Let's see what you can do now with that new attack of yours." Pikachu nodded and hopped onto the field.

"Onix! Bind it, NOW!" Onix started to launch its tail towards Pikachu, but Ash had another trick up his sleeve.

"Pikachu! Dodge it with Quick Attack!" Pikachu created after-images of himself and running circles around the snake. The snake became confused and became dizzy. Pikachu took this opening and slammed right into the snake's neck, throwing it 10 feet away. Brock was shocked to see his pokemon being thrown by a small mouse. Now that it was down on the ground, Ash had yet another idea he came up with on the spot.

'Okay, so I remember that water is a conductor of electricity (thank you, spearows from hell). If I make the sprinklers go off, the water will pour onto the snake and then we can shoot electricity at it. This'll be great!' "Alright, Pikachu! Aim a Thundershock at the head." Onix was still trying to get up. Pikachu fired an electric shock towards the head, which bounced off. Brock laughed at this feeble attempt of an electrical strike.

"Have you forgotten about yesterday? Electric attacks won't work." Ash smirked again.

"Oh, but will it work on water?" Brock raised his eyebrows at the idea, but was soon diverted to a loud zap from above the ceiling. The electric spark had hit one of the emergency sprinklers, setting it off. The water rained down on to the field, with Ash and Pikachu unaffected, but Onix having a terrible water experience. It was already roaring in pain from the seedlings, and now the water raining down helping the seedlings to grow and further damaging the rock snake. To add a cherry on top, Ash decided to issue the last attack.

"Pikachu, Thundershock at Onix." A large bolt of electricity was released and made contact with Onix. Now soaked in water, there was no way the electricity would bounce off and the shock impacted all of the rock snake. This was the loudest roar of pain that Brock ever heard of. As soon as the electricity dissipated, Onix collapsed to its side and remained still for 10 seconds. It was out cold. Brock and Leaf stared wide-eyed at the fallen pokemon. Ash still retained the smirk he held for the entire battle.

"Onix is unable to battle. Ash Ketchum is the winner!" the referee announced, breaking the deafening silence. Ash just came to the realization that he defeated his first ever Gym Leader in the most difficult series of battles he has ever faced. Pikachu ran up to him and jumped in his arms, shouting for joy. Bulbasar and Kakuna also jumped out of their balls to hug Ash at his feet. Leaf ran down the stairs with Jigglypuff and embraced Ash in a tight hug. Jigglypuff even gave Pikachu a hug. Brock made his way over to the trainers' box, the Boulder Badge in hand.

"That was some skills you had there, Ash. How did you improve so much in one afternoon?"

"Well, Leaf, your father, and I just kept working at it until we got every single attack worked out right. From there, I really battle on instinct and impulse. I think as I do things. I'm not the planning guy."

"Ah, I understand. But nevertheless, I present to you the Boulder Badge as a sign of progress on your way to becoming the Champion of Kanto. I wish you both safe travels and well on your future endeavors."

"Wait a minute!" a voice called from the door opposite of the trainers' box. There stood Flint and Lola, with Lola carrying a backpack. Brock looked at them in surprise.

"Hey wait…you were supposed to be at the office today!" Brock yelled in surprise. Flint and Lola laughed.

"Well, there was an announcement we wanted to make last night, but we couldn't get around to it. But we'll make it here since it deals with your future."

"…go on…"

"I've decided to retire from field work and stay at the office." Lola spoke up. This took Brock by surprise.

"But, wait! Don't you love your work in the field? What about finding all of ancient water pokemon?" Lola chuckled.

"There are some things that take priority over others, like looking after the well-being of this family. I know that I haven't been there as much for you guys as I should have and I think now is the time to catch up. That leaves what your father has to say to you."

"Brock," Flint said in a stern voice, "I've always wanted you to be an archaeologist like your mother and I, but we realize that your passion was not in it. We can't hold you back on your talents as a Pokemon Breeder. You've taken good care of the resident pokemon in our garden. So Lola and I will look after the gym while you go on your journey to become a Pokemon Breeder. And don't worry, Forrest should be able to start learning the art of Pokemon Battling in the coming years. So what do you say? Do you want to go?" Brock's eyes lit up like fire. He was beyond excited and was starting to jump around like a five-year-old.

"No way! Are you serious?! You better not be punking me!"

"We're as serious as we could ever be," Lola replied, smiling at Brock.

"Thank you so much, Mom and Dad! I won't let you down!"

"I know you won't. You're 20 years old. You should be asking if you would let yourself down," Flint said as he hugged his son. Lola joined in on the hug as well, moving Leaf to near-tears.

"Here's your bag. I've packed everything from pots, pans, portable stove, portable table, silverware, and things you might need out there. Oh, and your two favorite pokemon in their pokeballs. Good luck to you, my oldest son!" Lola cried as she let go of Brock. He ran over to Ash and Leaf and asked the one question he had been dying to ask.

"Hey, you two. You mind if I tag along? I think it'll be great traveling together!" There was no way in hell that the two trainers would decline.

"Not at all! It would be a pleasure for you to join us," Leaf happily said.

"DUDE! THIS IS GOING TO BE AWESOME HAVING A THIRD TRAVELING BUDDY!" Ash exclaimed, pumping his fist into the air. Brock walked back to his parents and left them with an almost tearful good-bye.

"Mom and Dad, thank you so much for supporting me throughout all these years. I could have never asked for better parents like yourselves. I wish you all the best for this gym and the fossil research. I'll do my best to make the most out of my life." Flint and Lola smiled dearly at their son.

"Alright, now go on. Your friends are waiting," Flint waved off. Brock walked over to the two trainers with his backpack, ready to go.

"Well, you two. Are you both ready to hit the high-road?" Ash and Leaf nodded.

"Bye, Mr. and Mrs. Harrison! We enjoyed your company! We hope to meet you again!" They all waved back as they exited the gym. There were now three human members of the traveling party, all of them heading for the next challenge.

"Alright, so to get to Cerulean City, we must go through Mt. Moon," Brock calculated.

"Yup, and it says here in PokeMaps that Marion Boulevard turns into Route 3 after we cross the Pewter Loop freeway and walk for another mile and a half or so. It should get pretty mountainous," Leaf added on.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get going!" Ash shouted as the two trainers and former Gym Leader made their way across downtown, across the eastern freeway, and through the eastern city gates into mountainous territory. What awaits them at Mt. Moon remains to be discovered, but for now, they will just have to enjoy the view.

-_The Oak Residence – Pallet Town_-

_11:00 AM_

A silver Honda Accord slowed to a stop atop of a hill where there was a large windmill and a large house beside it. This was the Oak Residence where it houses the laboratory and home base of Professor Oak. What business could be conducted here on this sunny morning?

The people who stepped out from the car was a medium height, dark-brown haired man donned in a nice suit, a short, blonde-haired woman in a traditional yellow dress and katana, and a shorter, blonde-haired girl in the same traditional yellow dress also wielding a katana. At the double oak doors was an elderly man in a lab coat with his hands properly behind his back. He waved to the arriving party as he saw their car pull up to the top of the hill.

"Greetings, Mr. and Mrs. Lighthouse. What a pleasure to finally meet you both!"

"Pleasure to meet you, too, Professor Oak," Mr. Lighthouse politely replied, "but call me Eric and my wife Elise. The Mr. and Mrs. Thing makes us feel too old!"

"Ahhh…well if you three could follow me inside we'll get started." They followed the old man into the living room where Nora brought out some tea.

"Ah, this is my daughter-in-law and assistant, Nora." She bowed to the guests as she set the tea set down.

"It's a pleasure to meet you three. I have a son who is on his Pokemon Journey. I'm so proud of that boy…" Professor Oak cleared his throat, grabbing back the attention of the three.

"So Amber," Professor Oak started, "how are you today?" Amber fidgeted and hesitated with her reply.

"…ummmm…I'm doing fine, I guess." Professor Oak just smiled, thinking little of the stage fright the girl was experiencing.

"Well, we're here to discuss a proposition I have for you. I have this device here called the Pokedex. I'm sure you've heard of this device, Eric?" Eric nodded to the thought.

"Yeah. We're supposed to be assisting in the production and manufacturing of those devices. It's a very useful tool for Pokemon Trainers."

"Anyways, this is the fourth prototype and all of the recent data has already been uploaded. This device will record new pokemon that you have come across and still you specifics just by scanning it. I have a feeling that the three already on their journey can't do this alone. I know you have been doing well in school, well enough to place out of the 3rd year through your bypass examinations. All you have to do is go around the region and take note of every single pokemon you come across. That is if you can pass the Trainer's Certification Exam within the next week. You can take it here at the Lab, at the Pokemon League Office, or at any Pokemon Center around. Are we clear of the requirements? This is a grand opportunity for you to learn about the world of Pokemon." Amber seemed excited about the prospect. Her parents, though, are a little more reserved on the matter.

"What if she get hurt, injured, kidnapped, or other things?" Elise said in worry. Professor Oak nodded in understanding.

"I understand that there are dangers in the world and some can't be avoided. This is why we have the Trainer's Certification Exam as it tests the common sense level and awareness of the prospective candidates. It will essentially bypass them out of high school and send them off on their own. We want to make sure that they are even remotely capable of doing that. So have faith in your daughter; I'm sure she's a resilient girl."

"Yeah, Mom! I can take care of myself!" Amber excitedly pumped her fist in the air…until she realized what she said, "…ummmm…I mean…I'll miss you guys, but I can take care of myself…"

"Hold on, your father and I need to discuss this. We'll see if you can go on your journey or not." It was fifteen straight minutes of arguing, deliberating, and debating on the subject matter. Professor Oak, in the meantime, took Amber out to the ranch to see some of the pokemon. A Pikachu walked up to her and curiously sniffed her.

'_Oh…you're human!'_ the Pikachu said. Amber was able to read its mind clearly, and even respond back telepathically.

'_Hello, there! My name is Amber! I can speak directly with you through telekinesis.' _

'_What's that?'_

'_Mind-reading.'_

'_Ohhhh…cool!'_

"Okay! We've made our decision," Elise announced from the sliding door, "Amber, you may go on your journey, but only if you promise to stay safe and out of trouble."

"I will, Mom. Thank you for letting me do this! I'll be able to go out and see the world and learn about it!" Eric smiled.

"Well it seems like you've grown up! Now all you need is to pass the test."

"I can take it today, can't I?" Amber asked.

"Wouldn't you want to study for it?"

"Nah…it's common sense, right? How hard could it be?" Needless to say, she was given the test half an hour later in one of the lounges, turned in the normally 45 minute test in 15 minutes, and was outfitted with a pokedex.

"Now, you need to pick a starter pokemon. I have a Charmander, a Squirtle, and a Bul-," Professor Oak was cut off.

"What about that Pikachu I was talking to earlier?" Amber asked, having taken a liking to that Pikachu.

"Well…" thought Professor Oak, "I guess it would be fine. It's not your standard starter pokemon. I guess we all have to be different, right? Let me get you its ball." The ball was an ordinary pokeball…with a lightning bolt on it. The Pikachu that Professor Oak brought into the lab happily jumped in. Amber took this ball and hugged it with all her heart and rushed back to her parents.

"Well, ready to go back home? We need to start packing!" Elise asked, also excited.

"Yup! I need to prepare for this journey! This will be awesome!" Amber replied excitedly. So one more pokedex was added to the ever-growing roster of pokedexes. She was excited to leave home and explore the world around her, learn new things, and discover new adventures. This would one hell of a journey for Amber as she has to play catch up with her seniors, who were already two cities over!

* * *

**A/N:** Yeah, this chapter was originally supposed to be with Chapter 5. If that were to have happened, this chapter would total at 22,000 words and would just simply be too long of a chapter. The target release for the next chapter will be in middle to late Janurary. I hope this was a good battle chapter with the badassery I promised. Also, the chapters will get noticeably shorter as this story presses forward as I'm pretty much done introducing concepts. As always, read, love and critique! =)


	8. AN: Content Reallocation Notice!

**A/N: **Good morning, everyone! I know it's been awhile since I have released the last chapter and that you all are anxious with the release of the next chapter. I just want to apologize for the extreme delay in updates. School and life happened and this left me with little to no time to write...well I have been writing, just rather slowly. Please be patient with me as it will take me a lot longer to produce quality material. With that out of the way, I have a couple of questions for you all:

- I was wondering if it's a good idea to start splitting some of the chapters into multiple, shorter chapters. This will greatly lessen the load and quicken the output of material. The planned chunks will be 3,000-6,000 words to ease the reading experience.

- I've been forgoing "scenery writing" and focusing more on the "interaction/dialog writing". Does scenery writing grab your attention and would you like for me to bring it back? Would you prefer I continue focusing on interaction?

- There will also be very few battle scenes unless it is a gym battle, since all route battles seem the same to me. Would you all like for me to include more route battles?

Thank you in advance for all of your feedback. I hope this will quicken the pace of releases and story flow. If this does happen, I will completely overhaul the story under this title.

And thank you for everyone who has reviewed, favored, and are following this work (this applies from the first upload of this story)! I will try my hardest to get the next chapter out in the coming week. Please be patient with me as I don't have a lot of free time anymore.

**NOTE: ****_THIS CHAPTER WILL BE DELETED UPON NEXT CHAPTER UPDATE!_**


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